#eh whatever i tried to cartoon teeth my way out of this one

[whatudottu]

Ever since making my human Shockwave design, both my original one and this one, I've been thinking of what arm he would have because even if you have access to a cannon arm as a human it's logical to have a functional arm prosthetic maybe idk-

An extra ever since after reading @nukeli 's SG Shockwave fic I've also been thinking of human Shockwave having a donor arm like what happens in the oneshot, it being mismatched because though demand is high supply is very very low and replacement body parts don't last-

[tropicalfreckles]

Beej?

Anon you’ve opened the floodgates you absolute fool(i’m kidding) OKAY, let me tell you all about what I like about the smelly trash man cause if it wasn’t obvious before with me not being so subtle I have a big crush and enjoy this stupid demon a lot (crush on musical beej specifically of course LAWL)

Why I Like them: OKAY IN ORDER, first movie Beetlejuice. I enjoy he’s a big sleazy asshole that has funny one-liners every time he actually just show up in the movie. He’s a fast-talking con man that acts like a used car salesman and he has a sleazy charm to him. I also enjoy watching Barbara school his ass every time I rewatch the movie, stan movie Barbara y’all she’s a babe and will take you down. I also like to thank Michael Keaton for his performance it was a great one and we all have movie Beej to thank for the other Beetlejuices we got!

Toon Beej! Adorable, a brat, a jerk, a man that would do anything to make a quick buck and he’s gross and such a petty shithead I love him lmao. He can be pure and adorable and nice when he wants to be even if he doesn’t like to show that he has a soft side. Also holy shit all his puns??? YES?? I LOVE PUNS. His jokes, his powers, everything about this middle aged dead ghoul is A+ and ya know what when karma does slap him that’s good too cause he does deserve to get taken down a peg some times lmao. Toon Beej is someone I’d happily be friends with.

now we get to my big ass crush on a stupid, smelly BASTARD OF A BUGMAN

Musical Juice. What don’t I like about him? Besides his dumb ass plan of a green card marriage lmao (I mean movie beej also sleazy af for doing that too). ANYWAYS. What I like. His stupid smile (both blum and brightman just WHY ARE THEY BOTH SO ATTRACTIVE AHHH), his unhinged pansexual disaster energy, who tf is letting this man do coke that is a terrible idea but it gives such hilarious results, the fact that he uses his humor with his trauma he needs to NOT call me out like that lol. I weirdly relate to Musicaljuice like a lot (as someone who struggles with trying not to be petty or get jealous and stuff like that), plus him feeling invisible and lonely also hit home really hard when people in middle school and high school would randomly just drop/ghost me out of the blue. He’s such a chaotic sleaze and I just enjoy his energy and his jokes so much. His dirty humor? Sign me up I keep it clean here folks cause I got another blog for dirty stuff but I like dirty humor when it’s done right lmao. Also dadbod. Dadbod is CHEF KISS. The little things I also enjoy. How he does have an affectionate side (him being just affection/touch starved also coming for the throat cause me too), the fact that he jumped to protect Lydia after she rightfully killed him and he even gave her his cowboy hat as a goodbye present. I thought it was nice of him to yeet out of there cause he did do a lot of bads lmao. I also love how excited he got and the chaotic sibling energy he had with Lydia when scaring. I just really, really enjoy musical Beetlejuice a lot guys.

Sorry I’m such a simp for him lmao

He is my emotional support bastard

Why I don’t: I honestly do not hate his character at all, but, I can criticize his actions. To a degree. I can’t exactly say (ex. Musicaljuice)“Oh no! a demon trying to kill Lydia’s friends and family?? How unexpected!!” he’s a demon he’s gonna do evil-ish things. Which is why I applaud Lydia taking matters into her own hands good kid 10/10. and like movie Juice is a bastard sleazy man of course he’s gonna have a shitty idea as to marry a teenage girl so he can freely do whatever he wants in the world of the living. He never in the final script showed any creepy shit towards her which god I am grateful for I don’t need someone perving on this teenager that’s already having a wild time in her new house. He’s a conman just trying to have a good time but goes about it by crappy means. The petty/jealousy thing can go too far some times (but I chalk that up to musicaljuice’s sad upringing along with not having an positive relationships that we know of in his life to support him) for musical and toon juice (toon juice once again I don’t think had any friends that really understood him when he was alive and when he died so he just does whatever he wants since people already think so little of him before he meets Lydia), however with the proper talking to I think both could improve from it. Like in an analysis way I know these guys are fictional just like character development thoughts. All three have said and or done some things ranging from like small shitty things to problematic obviously. Beetlejuice is a very complex character as a whole. Movie juice obviously not as developed since he’s barely in the film to kind of shroud him in more mystery but that doesn’t mean his motives aren’t intriguing. I don’t want to make this post longer than it already is so that’s just all of my thoughts summarized.

Favorite Episode (scene if Movie): Fav movie beej scene is hard.

His first time meeting the Maitlands, his charades with Lydia, then the ending scene are all so good.

Toon Beej I’m trying to think. Once again I’ve only rewatched like 20+ episodes for the cartoon so it’s hard to pick with limited options. Uhhhh I like the haunted attraction episode lmao also the creepy tree and how he went out of his way to help Lydia move her favorite tree and in the end tried saying something nice to the tree even though eh was annoyed with it the whole episode.

Musical juice that is HARD, Blum and Brightman just own every scene they’re in shit lawl. I really like the evil plan reveal during the séance. The whole being dead pt 1&2 (the guide reprise), say my name, his scenes with the maitlands.

Favorite season/movie: Skip

Favorite Line: NICE FUCKING MODEL!! *honkhonk* (pfft)

also like... everything beetlejuice says in the musical lmao “new phone who dis”

Favorite Outfit: HONESTLY I love every single outfit all three beetlejuices wear. I want the fucking guide hat so badly!!!

OTP: 

hahahaAAAHH ah. Well. Ya see here. Let’s go with the first options. Cause of a number of artists on here I’ve been pretty keen on the BeetlejuicexMiss Argentina ship for moviejuice tbh lmao. I like the idea they had an office fling. Musicaljuice and Miss Argentina sounds cute too.

I don’t actively go into the Beetlands tag but I do think the art and idea for it (after a lot of building up trust/consent/and talking) think it can be a super cute poly ship! I like.

I don’t really ship Toon Beej with anyone tbh.

so now into the self indulgent shit lmaaoo

I love people’s ocs/self inserts with the Bugman a lot and I myself super hardcore ship my oc Leilani and musicaljuice. I... maye have drawn self insert art I have no posted here out of being shy but it’s on another blog that will stay hidden lmao. I don’t normally post self insert stuff of myself cause man I can draw it easily for other people but when it comes to myself I am shy.

I mean I’m writing a fic for beej and lani as we speak and you all know by now if you’ve been following me for the past couple of months I’ve drawn a handful of doodles plus commissioned numbnutspo to draw my self indulgent ship lawl

BROTP: The obvious for toon and musicaljuice is Lydia Deetz of course. Chaos siblings. Also I have a BROTP of my demon oc Antares with musicaljuice too. Dumb demon bros.

Unpopular Opinion: TBH Idk if I have one. I like to think there’s a resounding hiss @ the ship that shall not be named lmao.

A Wish: Same wish I had for Lydia’s ask, I wanna see the musical live REAL BADLY. I also wish I could tell the cast/crew of the musical how much it has helped me get through this shitty year and how it legit just revived my passion for drawing again. I got to meet a lot of people through the musical and made some new friends. Plus I’m actually making money off my art now???

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: I wanna forget that clean beetlejuice from that one episode of the cartoon exists lmao it scares me (I mean I wouldn’t object to musical juice to taking a fucking bath or brushing his teeth but let’s be real that ain’t happening)

5 words to best describe them: Bastard, Unhinged, Handsome, 1-Brain Cell, Huggable

My nickname for Them: I mean when I refer to him or write fics it’s always Beej, BJ, Bugman, Bug, Bastard Man, Smelly Trashman, Garbage Man, Lawrence, the list goes on lawl

and now I have aired out more of my stupid obsession with this dumb demon

edit: I FORGOT HEADCANONS

OKAY HEADCANONS. Musical juice is definitely the oldest of the three, (in dead terms too, in alive terms he was ony alive for like less than 3 minutes or something), I love musicaljuice pansexual/genderfluid so much. I have a bunch but my mind is like blank rn for the rest shit sorry but I added those in at least

also I like the funny headcanon toon juice is taller than keatlejuice and musicaljuice

I also like the headcanon for autistic beetlejuice (as someone who is also autistic)

[pinkysfaultorbrainsfault]

animaniacs - s1e40: puppet rulers

episode summary: after seeing how small children react to the characters on their favourite tv show, brain decides that he and pinky will be children’s tv characters, too, before cryogenically freezing themselves for long enough that nostalgia tricks everyone into loving them enough to... elect them world leaders.

because people are totally thinking about old cartoons thirty years after they came off the air, right? that’s a thing normal people do.

the rundown:

we open in 1954.

nobody knows when in 1954 though, because whoever owns this calender isn’t ticking off the days. never mind! i’m sure they have more important things to do.

like welding some shit together, or whatever, like this guy is doing. “there. albert einstien’s latest experiment will be a powerful success.” if it’s albert einstien’s experiment, i don’t know why he hired this guy to do it, but i guess that’s between the big man and himself.

turns out the experiment only needs to be “powerful enough to pull five boxcars and a little caboose”, which is fine. fair enough if albert einstien wants to outsource production of his trainset. he’s probably busy being photographed for ridiculous facebook memes that say shit like “masks give you HIV”. 🙄 

meanwhile, as the music swells and the theme tune comes into the musical layers, we see pinky walking towards brain, who is preparing his coffin. it has a little alarm clock on it so he doesn’t miss bill nye the science guy.

“i’m finished, pinky.” he proclaims. he sure is. “with this cryonic capsule, we shall freeze ourselves and awaken fourty years in the future.” which i suppose is a little less morbid than, yknow, being dead. and bill nye should still be on tv, so it isn’t all bad.+

“egad, brain. what will we do in the future?”

“i don’t know, pinky, but it has to be better than what we’re doing now.”

i feel for him. i have never seen these mice in a well equipped cage. would it kill y’all to put some fucking climbers in there??? jesus.

suddenly, some children appear.

“uncle albert,” they cry. “uncle albert, it’s time.” ominous.

“but kiddies, uncle albert is doing an experiment and did you say it’s time.”

ominous! fortunately, “time” here means “time to sit down and watch tv.”

“hey kids!” says the friendly propellor worm on screen. “what time is it?” it is in fact “TIME FOR MEANIE!” as uncle albert and his fluffy brood proudly complain. yaaaay!

YAAAAAAAAAY.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

anyway turns out meany’s a bit of a dick.

pinky and brain watch on as the worm gets beaten to death. they are not particularly interested in the violence taking place, until Tiny Einstien Boy Edition (tinestien?) mentions that he wishes “treacle and meanie was president.”

to which brain makes this face.

hm. this is the face i make at my dentist when he asks to see if i’ve been maintaining my crown. sorry that my last dentist exploded my teeth or whatever. that’s kind of why i’m here.

“pinky, are you pondering what i’m pondering?” i want to take a moment out here to point out how fucking tiny brain is pinky is laying on his chest. horizontal and he is still taller than brain i just/?? he’s so fucking small. pinky could just pick him up. he couldn’t do anything. pinky could fucking yeet him like a basketball. or maybe just give him a nice hug.

anyway it turns out brain finally has a use for his cryochamber! he wants to get himself on Time For Meany and “endear himself in the hearts of children.”

anyway so once those kids grow up and become world leaders, they will remember brain fondly enough in their hearts so that... when he thaws out, they’ll, uh, elect him president. not entirely... foolproof, perhaps? but on the other hand if the nice couple from out of the box ran for joint prime minister i’d be pretty hype about it. out of the box doot doot out of the box.

pinky wants his show name to be “big ears.”

brain is more into the idea of being The Iconoclast, an Unconventional Eccentric Who Marches To A Different Drummer. privately that sounds like every single half-bearded nerd man at uni who basically accused me of having my boyfriend do all my coursework for me. does brain intend to hang around cardboard forbidden planet and tell the puppet girls that they don’t have the right to be into guardians of the galaxy? is brain going to be passive aggressive about that 2:2 i got in sculpting and rigging, thomas?????

“oh. i thought maybe you could be noodle noggin.”

we then cut to the studio, where the Fat Ceo Man wants the puppeteer to come up with new puppet characters for the next show. unfortunately, the next show is in three minutes, so he’s not very happy.

good thing he gets this suspicious package in the mail, eh?

as expected, it’s full of mice.

“oh my gosh!” cries our man, who has never seen a mouse before, apparently. “talking puppets!”

“actually we are two laboratory mice who wish to be on your show as part of an intricate plan to take over the world.”

“oh, wow, these are really good.”

so the boys make it on! they probably gave mr puppet man a religious experience, but we don’t see him again, so it’s fine.

“hold it, meany! everyone must meet our two new friends! this is big ears! take a bow, big ears!”

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

“and i am the iconoclast, an unconventional eccentric who marches to a different drummer--”

“but you may call me noodle noggin.”

you can’t see it very well in the last image, because uncle albert’s calender is in the way, but this is basically every episode. big ears says something, noodle noggin says something else that’s slightly more pretentious, meany hits him with a big stick.

everyone fucking loves it.

(fuck me. i never actually looked at this screencap close up before. why is pinky in a mousetrap?? why does it have their real names on it???? and why the FUCK do i not have a little brain toy in his own tiny wagon??? hello??? socialist police????)

unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and all projects with talking mice in it must be cancelled absurdly early. and an elmyra reboot of big ears and noodle noggin would be pointless, because brain already gets hit on the head in every episode, so eventually brain has to make the announcement.

“this program has been our last show.” he just sort of... says it, and you can tell pinky definitely wasn’t expecting it. he looks genuinely sad.

but not as sad as the children. even mousetrap pinky looks distraught.

the mice don’t care, obviously, and waste no time in jetting back to the Studio Fridge to activate their cryonic chamber, where pinky makes a very interesting point.

“but brain, why are we freezing ourselves at the height of our popularity?

“to stay fresh in their memory, pinky. we must, to paraphrase milton berle, ‘leave them wanting more’. i’ll see you in the future, pinky.”

there are no good frames for that portion of dialogue but whatever! let’s see how well that goes for them.

conclusion:

so the first thing the boys do upon waking up from ice and dust is to broadcast themselves on tv. “remember me?” asks brain. “it’s your old pal, the iconoclast.”

“and his old pal! zort! big ears!”

it’s very cute.

unfortunately these people are less impressed. they just sort of point, in a scary way. brain invites them all down to the tv station to “shower us in praise and material gifts,” and waits for the fans’ inevitable arrival.

“at last, we can write our own ticket, pinky. no longer in glorious suffering.” alright, hubert von vestra! calm down.

which is when the fans show up. hopefully the fact that they are all morbidly obese is like... coincidental, or to show off the fact that they’re all wearing kid tshirts, right? surely pinky and the brain wouldn’t tell me, a disabled person, that fat people are Bad And Losers? surely not.

“at last, my public has come to shower me with gifts.”

“guess again, noodle noggin!”

“huh.”

“you abandoned us!” cries the crowd. “you went away! you ruined our lives!” as brain tries to grapple with the fact that they are not, in fact, worshipping his image (and uploading pictures of him in the garden of mindy dress to e621) they present him with inordinately expensive therapy bills, because america be that way.

“PAY EM.” yells a gruff man with terrible facial hair. pinky and brain decide they would rather not.

honestly, i’m going to have to give this one to brain. sorry, brain. pinky did make the point earlier, and maybe if brain had thought about it, they might have been able to edit the plan a little and have things work out differently?

or maybe he was just tired of getting hit on the head all the time. ask pinky about that one, b.

brain: 3 pinky: 3 outside influence: 5

“quickly, pinky, we have work to do.”

“you mean taking over the world?”

“no. like finding a good hiding place.”

[gt-fluffy-vore]

Mindtrapped Chapter one: 911

Sanders Sides fanfiction

Warnings: Car crash, panic, GT, not being able to control one’s own abilities, mention of rape, mention of murder

2103 words.

Thomas was forty minutes into his two hour drive to Daytona Beach, where he'd be staying for a well needed, if not modest, vacation, and already he regretted it. It was Virgil and The Duke who were to blame. Not only would they not leave him alone, they wouldn't leave each other alone either.  And, much to The Duke's pleasure, he was beginning to wonder if driving himself into oncoming traffic would be a better alternative to these two… But he hadn't meant to actually do it…

"Thomas, you'll be staying in a hotel, will you not?"

"Uh, yeah? So?"

"So?!" Remus let out a laugh. "Oh, Thomas. What are hotels for?"

"Sleeping? Watching cartoons if you pay for a nice one?"

He sighed amidst another laugh. "Ah, Thomas, you have got to stop ignoring these things! Hotels are for sex! Rape! Eh, occasional murder if you're feeling particularly… horny."

"That…" Virgil groaned. "That has nothing to do with why hotels are a bad idea… But they are a bad idea…"

"Uh-huh…" Thomas was getting aggravated again. Or rather, he was getting pissed off. Couldn't they just shut up and let him concentrate on driving?!

"Especially if you don't have a really nice one…"

"Virgil, I do have a really nice hotel. That's why this is called a vacation."

"But what if it's not as nice as you think it is? Or, what if it is exactly as nice as you think it is and you get killed anyway?!"

"O-Okay, when - when did we ever mention getting killed?"

Remus sighed. "Sex, rape, occasional murder, it's like you're not even listening to yourself right now! Ha! That was a joke." He cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, the risk of getting killed is half the fun! That's the excitement of it!"

Virgil groaned, answering through gritted teeth. "That's not exciting. Danger is not exciting. It's… dangerous, that's… that's the point of danger."

"Well sure it's dangerous, but what's life without risk? That's like a cheap hotel without endlessly stained bedsheets."

Thomas and Virgil's faces both shot red. "L-Life without risk is safe! And… comfortable."

"And what good does comfort do if it makes life so bland it's hardly worth living anymore?!"

Thomas had finally had it. Stupidly, he turned away from the road to glare furiously at the two in the back seat so he could shout at them directly. "Just SHUT UP!"

…

…

…

"911, what's your emergency?"

"I - I think I just hit someone. I mean, I did hit someone! I-I don't know what happened! One second the road was empty, and the next they swerved right in front of me!"

"Okay, take a deep breath. Are there any young children in the vehicle?"

"Uh, n-no. It's just the one guy."

"Alright. Can you tell if they're breathing?"

"Um… Y-Yeah? I-I think so…"

"Okay, that's very good. Now can you tell me exactly where you are right now? We're going to send an ambulance to you."

"Um, y-yeah… But - but is he gonna be okay?"

"The EMT's will do the best they can to take care of him."

"Okay… I just… I'm a really big fan of this man's work…"

--------------------

Meanwhile, every one of the Sides simultaneously lost their vision, which was unsettling enough on it's own, until they all collapsed in unison in their rooms seconds later…

The first to wake up was Patton, who groaned and sat up slowly, blinking his eyes open. He was met with… well he wasn't even sure what it was. Some kind of… yard? Thing? Surrounding him were… the sky was made of stone?! Wait, no, it was just really, really tall cobblestone walls. They were thousands of feet high… And now that he thought about it, he could only see one actual wall, which meant that this yard thing was probably thousands of feet wide as well. Whatever this place is aside, where even was he? Was he in the real world? He definitely wasn't in his room… Was he in the mind palace in some way? He didn't see Thomas anywhere… Oh, no! He scrambled to his feet. "Roman! Logan! Noooooo! My makeup adorned angel-son!" Breaking into tears, he stumbled towards Logan, the closest one to him, who was sprawled out on the cement floor, unconscious, silently reminding himself not to use the cheerful nicknames for Virgil - he expressly said he didn't like that. "Logan! Please! Please, wake up! Uh… uh… water!" He summoned a water bottle and… uh, he summoned a water bottle… He tried again. Why wasn't it working? Maybe just try one more time, maybe he was doing something wrong. Nope. He couldn't summon anything. Uh, no water then. Frustrated and more worried than anything else, he reached out a hand and patted the side of his face. Nothing. "Logan, please!" Moaning nervously and playing with his fingers, he finally gave in and smacked Logan's face gently. "I'msosorryLoganpleaseforgivemeIdidn'twanttoIpromiseIjustwantyoutobeokayI'msorry!"

Finally, Logan shifted and groaned, then slowly sat up. "Where are w-" 

Patton interrupted him by pulling him into a tight hug. "Logan, oh my gosh, you're okay!"

"Yes, Patton, I am 'okay'. Now would you please… be so kind… as to release me?"

"Oh!" Laughing nervously, he pulled back. "Sorry, kiddo." He grinned, stepped back, then let his face drop. "Logan… where are we?"

Logan looked around, took in his surroundings, and after a long time, he sighed in defeat. "I… I don't believe I have ever had to say this before… Patton, I… I don't know…"

There was a groan nearby as someone sat up. "You? You, Logic… doesn't know?"

"You are fully aware this is not a fact I am proud of!"

Patton rushed over and helped Virgil to his feet. "You alright? Nothing hurts?"

"Uh, all in one piece and pain free… Well, physical pain at least…"

"So normal for you, right?"

"I guess… I just wish we knew what was going on…"

Patton sighed. "Me too… But hey! We can figure it out, right Logan?"

"Um, yes! Yes, of course we can."

"But we gotta wake Roman up first… He looks really Rom-out of it. Yeah? Get it?" Logan and Virgil both glared. "Okay, okay, I get it… Not funny… But how should we wake him up?"

"Allow me." Logan stepped over to him, crouched down and held his hand out. "Um..." He shook his hand and tried again.

"Ooooh, yeah, I tried that first to wake you up, and for some reason we can't… summon things here."

"Well that's… inconvenient. I suppose I will be using... other methods." He cleared his throat, then said rather loudly, "Disney is officially cancelled until further notice."

"WHAT?!" Suddenly they all scrambled away, Logan being flung by the sudden, drastic change. "Oh, it's just you. Why are you all so tiny? And where are we?"

"We have yet to make that conclusion. And we are not the ones who are small, actually no one is small, it is you who has changed size." Logan rose to his feet and dusted himself off, then straightened his tie and looked up at him.

"Okay, I-" Virgil groaned. "I knew you were extra, but this is just… Is this really necessary?"

"Is what-oh good galloping parahnas! How long have I been this size?!"

"Precisely fifty-six seconds — since you became conscious that is. One minute and one second now, one minute and three seconds, one minute and-"

"Yes we get the idea thank you very much."

"Hey Roman? Not tryna rush you or anything, but could you maybe change back? Ya know, to normal size? Not that I have anything against you being a giant, it just makes it hard to hear ya up there."

"Do not fret dear Patton! I shall return to my normal size this instant!" After a silent moment where his size changed absolutely not at all, his face dropped. "Okay, now you can fret."

"Why?" Logan straightened his glasses. "Why haven't you withdrawn your size?"

"I… it seems I… can't."

"Well of course you can! What's stoppin ya, kiddo?"

"Nothing's stopping me, I just… can't. I can't shape-shift! At all!"

Virgil looked up. "You mean you're stuck like that?"

"Y-Yes!"

"What happens when Thomas calls you to the real world then?"

"Oh, no! If - If I can't shape-shift anymore and I can't return to our size then… then I'll never get to talk to Thomas again! I'll never be a part of another video! Ever! Logan, you must help me! You'll help me, won't you?!"

"You asked me for help? You must be desperate."

"Logan, can't you hear how desperate I am?! Help me… please."

Logan blinked, genuinely surprised. Roman was asking him for help, and he said please? "Of course I'll help you, Roman. Now the first step to this process is to deduce where in Thomas's mind we actually are. And since we are unable to leave, the probability of actually getting to a conclusion is growing slim…"

"What do you mean, we can't leave?"

"I mean exactly that, Virgil. I have attempted to leave this… domain a number of times now, to no avail. There is also the dilemma of Roman's new size…"

They all glanced at him. He was nearly fifty feet tall now, towering above them all. "We're all aware I hate every bit of this, right?" Virgil groaned.

Roman sighed dramatically. “I’m not exactly thrilled about this either. Although… it has always been a dream of mine to experience the life of a giant…”

"Congratulations," Logan sighed. "Now how to reverse it… I'd have to know what caused this, and to know that would be to understand this new domain… Argh, this entire line of reasoning is a paradox!" He took a deep breath. "No, no it's not. There has to be a way to learn more about this place without speaking to Thomas… Firstly, I assume you cannot return to your normal size either, Patton? Or… Um, form?”

“What do ya mean?” It was only then that he, and Virgil, realized that he’d slowly been shrinking and changing form. He was now about two feet tall and had floppy blue dog ears replacing his own, and sharp, pointed teeth, and his fingernails were pointed into tiny claws. They also noticed he had a visible layer of fur covering his body. “Well how did I not notice this before! I don’t remember shape-shifting.”

Virgil shook his head. “How did I not notice that?”

“Oh, well. Time to test your theory, Logan!” There was an awkward pause where Patton threw a hand into the air above him, then looked down at himself. “Welp, looks like your theory’s right! I… can’t shape-shift either. What about you?”

“Neither can I. Virgil?”

He shook his head. “Nope.”

“So none of us has any control over our morphing abilities… Unless… I hate to bring them into this, but has anyone seen The Duke or Deceit around?” They shook their heads — all except for Patton. “Patton?”

He was staring up at Roman, jaw dropped. “Uh, what?” he muttered, still not looking away. His ears were flatter than before against his head and his long tail was curled around one leg. Wait, tail? When did that show up?

“Um, Logan, is it just me or is he still shrinking?”

Logan cursed under his breath. “Patton. Patton!”

“Uh, wh-what?” He set a hand on Patton’s shoulder, and Patton flinched and looked up at him, then laughed nervously. “Heh, wow, I just keep gettin’ smaller, huh?” He was barely taller than a foot now, and still trying to force a grin.

“I have a few ideas as to why our abilities are acting like this, but I’ll need more information first…  I’ve never seen anything like this.” The one thing he wasn’t thinking about was how monstrously huge Roman, currently fifty feet tall, must look from the point of view of someone who’s only a foot tall. Even against him or Virgil, Patton only reached just under their knees now, and with no way to turn back. But of course, Logan wasn’t even considering that Patton was scared. “Roman. Can you think of anything Thomas has watched or read lately that might inspire changes like this?”

“Um… I don’t think so… Why, do you think Thomas is doing this to us?”

“I think his subconscious may be forcing this…”

“So you think Thomas is doing this… on accident...”

“It’s not that simple, Roman. I don’t think Thomas actively has any idea what’s currently happening here. But we are still in Thomas’s mind… I just have to find out where…”

[chilly-me-softly]

I need Part 3 of Ben meeting your daughter. I'm so in love with it. xx

Part 1 - Part 2

Ben has a smile on his face before he even opens his eyes. In the last few weeks he has woken up with you in his arms several times, but now even that tastes different.

When he opens his eyes he frowns briefly before a sweet expression appears on his face. He went to sleep only with you and woke up with Emma in the middle of your bodies, when or how it happened he doesn’t know. The little girl sleeps on her side, Twinkle tightly squeezed in one arm and her face almost hidden in his chest and only now he realizes that one of his hands is covering her.

The baby had only smiled when you told her that Ben was staying over, and later that night, you found her on the edge of the bed.

“Can I sleep with you?” she had asked by torturing the puppet’s ear and you had smiled and helped her up, you didn’t usually let her sleep with you so she wouldn’t get used to it but that night you could have made an exception if that’s what she wanted. In all this Ben hadn’t moved an inch, but as soon as the baby had settled down and fallen asleep, one of his hands had gone to wrap around the baby’s waist and you had smiled before putting your head back on the pillow eager to get all the minutes of sleep you still deserved.

Ben stretches out his arm to caress your side and the smile on his face is nothing compared to yours when you focus on his figure. “Good morning” you yawn while looking at the little girl still asleep.“When did she arrive?”

“Early this morning, your ears slept with you. They’ll get used to it in time” you joke and he grinns.

“In time, eh?” you look at each other for a few minutes communicating with your eyes, until the grip on his shirt gets stronger and Emma sighs.

It takes a few more minutes before her little eyes open wide and Ben runs his finger over her nose, seeing her wrinkle it annoyed.

“Good morning, sweetheart. Sleep well?” she nods, rubbing her eye with one hand and then lifting her head towards Ben. “Morning Ben”

You leave them both in bed to go to the bathroom, you take a few more minutes because you know she’ll be under control and won’t risk falling out of bed at any time. And when you get back to the room, teeth and face wash, Emma is straddling Ben’s body and trying to hit his nose like he did with her before.

You’ve always wanted something like that for her, of course her father is the most loving person in the world to her, but you don’t deny that it’s a bit of a burden for you. Spending a week with you and one week with him, constantly changing houses, inevitably were contributing to her growing up as she is. Surely you wouldn’t have stayed with your ex just because you wanted a united family for your little girl, better to be united but far away than to hate each other all your life and weigh on the child. 

It’s been too long since you leaned against the door jamb and watched your little girl laugh while her father had eyes only for her. It’s been too long since it was just you and her and now looking at Ben you can’t help but smile and have shiny eyes. It’s really been too long and you missed all that, the complicity, the union, the laughter. You don’t know who put Ben in your path, but you certainly thank him endlessly.

A thud distracts you from your thoughts, “Ooops” you hear Emma’s laughter and you come closer to understand what happened.

Ben holds his hand behind his head and Emma has hers over her mouth, but her eyes don’t deny the fun. “Ben hit his head” she just giggles in your direction before going back to hiding her mouth behind her hands.

“Yeah, Ben got hurt so bad” he points out rubbing the back of his head and you get on the bed.

“Oh no, we have to do something” and you’re ready to kiss him when your little girl runs her finger up his nose giggling. Ben pretends to be shocked before squeezing her and starting to tickle her, and your little girl’s screams and laughs fill your heart.

“I can’t believe you didn’t do anything special yesterday” you keep telling him while you’re making breakfast, Emma in the living room enjoying her favorite cartoon while you’re setting everything up.

Ben giggles, wrapping his arms around your waist and leaving a kiss on your neck, “That’s it”

“Then you’ve definitely switched my baby with someone who looks like her” your statement makes him laugh even more.

“Just because she likes me?” for a moment there’s a pout on his face that you promptly chase away by kissing him.

“I’m just saying she’s never behaved like this, even with her cousins she’s always very… composed” you sigh as you turn off the flame.

“What can I say, I have a certain charm” you turn around and look at him with an eyebrow raised before you burst out laughing in his face. And he tries to push you away while you just want to laugh and rest on his chest and after a while he lets you do it, a kiss on your head as small steps get closer and closer.

“I’m hungry” screams Emma with her little voice and in a moment you’re all three of you around the table having breakfast like a real family.

The doorbell rings a few hours later and from upstairs your voice is heard screaming at Ben to open the door, you’re finishing dressing the baby and you have some difficulty because apparently she doesn’t want to put her shoes on today.

Only when you go downstairs do you realize that Ben and Emma’s father are chatting around the kitchen table. Well, it was inevitable for the two of them to get to know each other sooner or later but you imagined it a little different.

Ben had opened the door and found himself in front of a boy who had looked at him in a confused way, he had never seen a photo but had immediately understood who he was. And not because they were waiting for him, but because somehow he reminds him of Emma.

“Hi, you must be Foster” Ben tries to be as friendly as possible by holding his hand and the boy shakes it right away.

“Hi, so you’re the famous Ben” he turns around after closing the door and looks at him with a confused look. “Emma’s always talking about you”

“Really?” he’s really surprised this time, the little girl seemed to be letting herself go around him only for a day while instead she’s been talking about him apparently for a long time.

The boy nods affirmatively with his head putting his hands in his pocket and looking around. “Emma’s upstairs with (Y/N), getting her dressed”

“Oh okay, thank you” and then so as not to stand there he offered him something to drink and that’s how you found them, having a chat like normal people.

“Hey” you greet him while you kiss him on the cheek, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah yes, sorry about yesterday.  I hope I didn’t cause you any trouble”

“Oh no man, no way,” Ben says for you, and you shake your head going to stand behind Ben.

Emma arrives shortly after, diving into her father’s arms and something inside Ben clutches at heart level. So little time has passed since you introduced them but he really cares about that little girl and watching the way she smiles or the way he takes her in his arms apologizing for the previous day reassures him. He doesn’t want her to suffer, you’ve told him so much about your relationship with Foster, he knows he’s a good person but seeing it with his own eyes is something else entirely.

“Okay, let’s go love, shall we?” the little girl nods and rushes off to get her things.  Foster gets up and straightens his shirt before looking at you and hinting at a smile.

“You look good” and he’s sincere, of course he only knows Ben through the eyes of his three-year-old daughter - understanding everything she said to him between the screams and the jumps hadn’t been easy, but the general concept was that mom had a boyfriend and he was good to her - but he knows that look on your face and he’s really happy that you’ve managed to move on and find a good person, someone who makes you smile as soon as you see him or just hear his name and make you blush like you’re doing now.

“Look at her, little (Y/N) still knows how to blush” he makes fun of you and you hide your face in your hands and tell him to stop.

Ben watches the banter and can’t help but feel a little out of place, it’s normal you have a daughter and a past and you’re on good terms now but he can’t help but feel a little jealous.  Luckily Emma manages to distract him at that moment, entering with the ever-present Twinkle under her arm and her backpack on her shoulder.

“Are you ready, love? Say goodbye so we can go” she lets Foster grab her backpack before she runs up to you and hugs you.

“Be good with daddy, okay?  We’ll see you this weekend” you give her a kiss on the cheek and wait for her to do the same, then you put her down and she goes to Ben.

You and Foster watch as Ben lowers himself to her height and she throws herself at him and he almost loses his balance.  "Be good" he whispers to her as he leaves a kiss on her forehead.

“Will you be here when I get back?”

“Of course I will Twinkle” after one last hug and more kisses from you, finally the door closes and you two are alone.

You let yourself be held in Ben’s arms while he kisses you on the forehead and lulls you gently, “I miss her already. What do you do as soon as she’s gone?”

“I usually sit in his room and turn her things in my hands” you giggle but he takes you by the hand dragging you up the stairs.

“You’re right, it works” he mutters after a while and you find yourself kissing him on your daughter’s bed laughing on his lips.

“Do you think I can take you two to meet the boys now? Or am I moving too fast?”

“You can do whatever you want Ben, as of today, no backing out. We are a family”

“Don’t make me cry”

“I love you”

“I love you too, Twinkle’s mom” you laugh hitting him in the chest and you can’t wait till Saturday to get your baby back.

 Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviews Stuff: Amphibia: Marcy at the Gates

Marcy arrives! The Plantars make it to Newtopia but first have to deal with a slight ant problem and a new addition to the family, as we finally meet the adorkable Marcy. Legs in two months under the cut. 

So as you could probably tell by the tone the last few weeks, doing this has weighed on me a bit. While I do love talking about this show week after week, as well as having a recurring series here to bring in readers, the split quality of the Season thus far has been a challenge. Now when I say split I don’t mean like star vs season 3 where it was either really damn good and some of the show’s best writing or “oh god what have they done to marco’s character this time”, it’s more either really good standout episodes ore more forgetable average ones. See a good episode I can gush about, dive into big charcter stuff, motviations, that sort of thing. I defintley will with owl house at some point and have with other shows. A bad episode can be taken apart and taken to the cleaners, which I haven’t done much of but probably should and if you want any taken to task yourself, I do comissions. But self promotion aside, the point is a meh episode just dosen’t leave me with a lot tot alk about and hte recaps became really dry as a result as I just couldn’t find a lot of jokes, and having a busy few weeks on top of that didn’t really help, nor did the antipciation for this week and the intersting setting of newtopia. 

Thankfully a combination of a really good few days, a better sleep schedule, and a really good episode this week, and a pile of scary go round collections for a dollar have reinvgorated me, so hopefully I can get back to doing what I love: Overanalizing children’s cartoons. So with that we can dive right into the episode. The keithdavidpocalypse is upon us! Pitter Patter! We open with Spring and Anne in the cart. Their close to newtopia, but Anne is worried they never found Marcy, while Sprig isn’t because her last friend turned out to be “Evil”... which Anne harshly rebuffs. And both sides are understandable: To Anne, Sasha was her friend.. a manipualtive and bossy friend sure but one who genuinely cared for her, she just may not know how to deal with people. To Sprig, Sasha is some asshole who abused his friend, tried to murder his Pop Pop, and works for a guy who tried to murder his whole town. It’s really understandable he woudln’t have the same warm fuzzy feelings Anne has.. insert your own Sashanne joke here.  We also get our first actual look at Marcy who to my suprise, rather than be another form of manipulative.. is simply an awkward nerd, constnatly playing video games, reading books , cataloging shit, and trying to get her friends to play d and d. So me if I knew what d and d was in high school. 

Anyways, the family finally DOES make it to Newtopia, impressive as you’d expect when the guard won’t let them see the wizard no way no how. Antique references aside, the guard at the gate actually has good reason for not letting them in as they have a tiny barbari-ant problem. A species Hop Pop is, in a nice touch, unfamiliar with due to the Valley not having them. We quickly see them in action as one approaches the plantars, basically a giant ant with ant-lers. Yes I used a pun there sue me. Anyway, our heroes ward off the ant they do find with some really cool team manuvering, and Polly showing she has spiked teeth. It’s a cool sequence. However they quickly find themselves outgunned, outplanned, outnumbered and outmanned. They gotta make an all out stand. Their gonna need a right hand man. Also I finally saw the film version of hamilton, as you can tell. Utterly magic. 

Said Right Hand Man, er woman, er tween comes in the nick of time as a cloaked Marcy sprays some black goo and sets it ablaze, scaring the ants off, snatching a stalemate from the jaws of defeat,  then rappeling down on a rope shot from a crossbow, also making polly want one because of course. She then.. Faceplants. Still a solid 8/10 entrance Marcy.  Marcy is played by Haley Tju who you may remember from such shows as The Loud House. And that’s all I know her from but given Stella’s one of my faviorites and Haley’s performance is part of that, so it’s unsuprising she’s great here. Also fun fact I learned by looking at her trope page: She actually played a younger version of London, brenda song’s character, on the Suite Life I Pray for Death but Death Won’t Come.. or On Deck for those who’ve never watched it. But I like the fact two londons are now on the same show together.. and an actually good noe at that! Horay. But yeah Haley is a great VA and what little i’ve seen her in and a welcome addition.  Marcy and Anne happily reunite once htey both realize who the other is, and hug and etc, before Marcy decends on the plantars, talking on and on and on about geeky stuff and how she likes the found family trope. ... I may really relate to this  mediums sized child, as I too am a huge nerd with no filter and was probably a lot like her at that age. It’s also clear she very transparently sees this as a combinaton of a video game and a d and d session, but said skills have actually benifited her as rping a rogue allowed her to easily bluff her way into the kingdom’s good graces and now she’s a sworn agent of the king as we’ll find out.  She quickly wins over the Plantars, measuring hop pop’s head, gushing over him being a farmer (which he almost instantly adopts her over and asks to point blank later), and then noticing Polly’s legs are about to come in and giving her the note seen in the review image, my faviorite gag. Sprig however is more out and out hostile and has his reasons we’ll get to in a second.  Marcy escorts her new family and sorta girlfriend to the makeshift war room set up by three scholoary newts who quickly resolve their planning disagreements by beating the piss out of each other. Just like real politics.. and that’s not a cheeky jab between the actual caning in the sentate that happened once and the various duels in the revolutionary and early america eras.. yeah the only reason the preisdent hasn’t been shot for challening one of hte many people he hates for a duel without realizing he really can’t see through that squint too good is that it’s now illegal and not the kind of illegal he can hide like usual.  Anyways after the Newts scoff at our heroes, but Marcy vouches for them and reveals that the ants are getting closer because i’ts gotten warmer....

Marcy has a plan though: Spread scentshrroms around that will release a pheremone which will drive them off, having throughly studied Amphibia’s various flora and fauna and thus knowing how to deal with them. I’ts something I like about the character and how she adds to the other huamns group dynamics. Alll three deal with issues diffrent ways; Anne has plans, but rarely thinks them through, Sasha does think hers through and is a master manipulator while Marcy is a ballance between the two: She does throughly think things out and have well thought out clever plans.. she just also tens to rush into things or go forward with a nose in a book or without a thought to how dangerous soemthing is. She’s prepared, she’s just not very aware of her surrondings, which is amood. 

But Anne is nervous about her coming along as is sprig which sets up both’s conflicts with her for the episode: Anne wants to protect Marcy, since she just got her back and her only other remaning friend now clearly wants to stab her and she has a better option now love interest wise. However Marcy convinces Anne, 2nd capefire this episode nonwithstanding, she can handle herself. She also calsl her annabannna which is fucking adorable.  The other conflict is that Sprig dosen’t trust her.. he has no rational reason not to give she’s a sweetie, but is a bit gunshy about another human girl working for a dictator popping up in their life. And while he’s probably wrong, while I think Marcy isn’t working for the best people probably she’s likely too oblivious to genuinely relaize she’s doing crimes if they have her doing them or was given a fake justification. I could be wrong, and will gladly eat crow. Metphorically i’m not going to bake a real crow. I don’t have the right seasoning. And i’d also be cursed but eh I doubt I can get poorer. But it’s understandable he has reservations, especially since while he dosen’t say it he’s likely worried Anne will get hurt again. He’s a good boy, he’s just being paranoid over probably nothing.  Anyways onoto the plan: The plantars and new girl marcy are gonna:

Okay phermone them whatever, the point is they head into the Ant Hole, witht he conflicts continuing as the plantars progress; Sprig is naturally suspcious and Anne is worried about her precious gurl. The group fight some more ants, and Marcy seemingly wonders off.. only to instead BLOW THEM A FUCKING TUNNEL with some chemicals from some flowers she found, then instant sprout a plant cage.. and accidently trap polly. NOOOOO.> Thankfully she frees her and tosses some plants on the ants, which is fun to say.  We then get to our climax. OUr group find the queen who ihs horrifying.. a good mom as sprig points out but horrfing. Nice design though i’m just.. not an insect guy and sometimes this show leaves me in abject terror. this is one of those times. Our heroes plant the mushrooms, phrasing I know but this review is late as is and i’ve already used up my archer refrence for the day.  Anne dives to Save a seemingly oblovious Marcy.. whose mad at Anne over it.. while Anne is udnerstandable Marcy wants her , NEEDS her to understand...

No not that erik. That, much like Anne herself, Marcy’s grown and changed over these past three months. She can handle herself now and she needs her ot see that. Also sprig gets attacked by an ant baby, which not only wakes up the queen, who can hear but can’t see but now knows something’s arry, but causes said queen to unleash a hoarde of ants.  Marcy however naturally has a plan: She’ll dive into the queen’s belly and get sprig, the plantars will hold them off and Anne finally trusts her lady enough to fiht off. I don’t have a lot to say I just really like this character arc and Marcy’s character: She’s a bit oblivious, ab it obessed with nerdy things which again relate.. but when push comes to shove she’s also clever, a master planner and has clearly studied her ass off about this world and knows it well. She’s throughly likeable.  And that likeablity finally gets through to sprig when she gets him out and swings him. Trust earned, anne’s faith in her gained and the mushrooms go off and send the ants running. Misson Complete.  With the mission complete our heroes finally enter Newtopia and meet the mysterious Lady Olivia, whose been sending Marcy on her missions, and is likely her spymaster. Not that i think Marcy realizes that but Marcy’s love of midevil fantasy means she blends in well with thier courty apperance and introduces anne and co to her.. Olvia isn’t impressed but is cordial about it at least.. even with Sprig breaking shit. And yeah , Amphibia has a king over all of it, as Hop Pop puts it “We aren’t savages”. It does make sense it woudln’t come up every day though, it’s not as if the king really cares about the valley... but more on speculation about him in a minute. Hop Pop wisely gives the two “Friends’ some alone time, and the two talk things over: Anne explains how she found sasha.. and it didn’t go great, and Marcy vows that the two of them can go their own way now. Maybe iwth tounge. we dunno. The two then look over anne’s phone while anne recounts her anne-tics.. and we get to the king. And it’s KEITH DAVID BITCHES AS WAS PROHPISED A FEW WEEKS AGO. And he has myserious plans and wood carven figures of both our heroines and possible gaybies. “The game can finally begin. “

Final Thoughts: This was a really damn good episode. Whiel I summarized more than usual , both conflicts were great, all the plantars got to shine, there were gags a plenty, an intriguing new member of the main cast and a mysterious new antagonist. I mean given it was revealed the Newts were behind Toad tower a few episodes back, I figured Andidas wouldn’t be a good guy, even if he’s played by upstanding gentleman and god among men keith david, , but it’s a question of what his end goal is, how the girls got here, and what his plan ofr them is that i’m curious to see play out as the season goes on, as well as see if Marcy is a pawn or not. Newtopia also looks intresting and i’ts nice to have a new solid setting to build on now we’re here, as well as new mysteries to unlock> Ther’es also the honest possibliity marcy, who claims to have found bubkuss, might simply want to stay in a world where she gets to live out her dreams and isn’t picked on or bullied. Again we’ll see all speculation but this episode was damn good. For now this is the clear highlight of the season and i’tll be intresting to see where it goes from here. Until next time courage. 

[etherealellaelf]

Disney Remakes: they’re not all bad.

I submit that some of the disney live action remakes are, regrettably, a bit off. But not all of them. A lot of them are really good. Here’s why.

-Lion King did really put me off with the lack of expressions. I’m not sure if I have much to say about it, lol I’ll have to see it and let you know. Honestly though I don’t think I can because I love the original Lion King so flipping much, it’s a masterful movie and part of its mastery is the beautiful hand drawn animation and its expressive characters. I can’t think I can watch a bunch of real lions just talking. Who knows? I’ll keep you posted.

-Alice in Wonderland, one of the first of them, had some really good feminist moments. I love the Hatter and Alice’s love for each other, I guess he’s like the only human in Wonderland so it makes sense. But I get some weird ideas because the denizens of Wonderland are supposed to mirror the characters in Alice’s real life, and since the only redhead in Alice’s life is Hamish, that weirdo who asks her to marry him and he’s a total jerk.... and the Hatter is a redhead too.... idk it’s weird. Also it’s weird if he represents her dad because number one he’s dead and number two it’s incest, but the Hatter does say a few things that her dad said at the beginning....hmmm... fishy. However I feel like I can rest assured because this might just be the case of “Johnny Depp came to shoot today in a homemade cosplay and nobody can stop him because he’s just a mad genius”, in which case why do they keep letting him do that??? I don’t mind the hatter’s design, but can you imagine Just Plain Old Johnny Depp In All His Sexy Glory as a mad hatter? It would have been fine. They had to give him a gap between his teeth, CGI enlarged eyes, crazy red hair, white and pink makeup... oh well, whatever, it’s fine. I like how Underland looks a bit more like Narnia than like a Tim Burton land; I honestly don’t know if they gave him complete creative control when it came to the CGI set design. It might’ve been cool to see that.

-Cinderella was wonderful, I thought. I really love how Cinderella and the Prince interacted a lot more, falling in love over a long period of time. In fact, I feel like it was a spiritual remake of Ella Enchanted(which, in my opinion, Disney really botched up because the book was just so amazing), so they did really good in my book. My brother, however, hates that at the end she just twirls in her tower and doesn’t do anything to save herself, when in the original she tried to escape. He thinks it’s really unfeminist and he doesn’t want his daughter to act like that. I agree on that mark, but I’ll let everyone watch it. Also they threw a little bit of the Beauty and the Beast original fairy tale in there when her dad, a merchant, asks what she wants and Cinderella asks for the branch that brushes his arm or whatever; similar to a single rose, when her sisters ask for riches. I also liked the handling of Lady Tremaine; it really humanized her and I felt for her. The stepsisters were silly as per the usual. The King went from a bumbling psychopath(the cartoon) to a very melancholy, concerned father, and I cried at his death scene. Bravo, Kenneth Branagh, bravo.

-I really like all of Beauty and the Beast, although I do think that they made Lumiere & friends a little bit too important in this movie. I needed more moments between Belle and the Beast that were in the animation! Evermore was breathtaking though, let’s be honest. Although let’s be honest, I REALLY REALLY wanted to see a shirtless Dan Stevens emerge from a wall of rose petals because that sounds absolutely magical and super HOT. I’m so mad they had to redo it. Also I like the subtle crush Lefou has on Gaston; I’ve always wondered if he liked him. I do wish that Josh Gad had toned it down with his fabulousness though, because although I love fabulousness I wonder if it was slightly offensive. I really liked Gaston, and I feel like he could have gone a little bigger and with more bravado, could have been from slightly comedic to VERY comedic, but I think that’s alright. He did a great job. And as for everyone complaining about the villagers being really nasty and openly evil towards Belle, I actually liked it. It’s clear in the cartoon that the villagers whisper behind Belle’s back, but I feel like she just has a small smidgeon of an idea that they think she’s weird. In this, they freaking ATTACK her. They’re like ‘We can’t have smart bicc’s in our town! Get out me town!” It is a bit on the nose sometimes but I think it works because it helps Beast and her relate to feeling like outsiders. I do think the Beast knowing how to read kind of gave them something in common as well, but I disliked how he scoffed at her favorite book, Romeo and Juliet. I wish he had been more understanding like, “There’s this poor girl whose library is like, seven books, and amongst those seven books, one of which is probably the freaking bible because they belong to a pastor, her favorite is basically a romance. She’s not well read; I’m going to show her the classics.” Which back then was probably, like, idk, Voltaire? Too soon? Eh I’m not sure when it takes place. I do wish he’d gifted the library to her though, that was a nice gift for her in the previous movie. (Here’s the thing; the Beauty and the Beast cartoon is basically a perfect movie and I don’t think anything can live up to it, but this one was good too. It wasn’t better, but nothing can be better than that movie. Except maybe the Princess Bride or the first Pirates of the Caribbean or the stage production of Phantom of the Opera. No, not even then.)

-Dumbo? I haven’t seen it yet, I’ll have to and update this.

-Okay so Aladdin is really good. I entered the film with the meme cringe in my mind, totally expecting it to look weird and bad, but honestly Will Smith was such a great actor! And I actually freaking cried so many times because number one: the genie was aladdin’s father figure that he never had! He taught him how to date! Number two: the genie got his true love as well, and you see her and their kids at the beginning of the movie! SPOILERS btw. Sorry. Also Number three: they picked Will Smith to play the genie because he’s HITCH of course! The matchmaker extraordinaire! (I just love Will Smith. I wish he would run for president; it wouldn’t be the first time we had an actor in the white house. Just kidding, I don’t want to burden him that way, and there are really smart candidates this year to choose from. I just am urging everyone to go vote, and no more harambe crap!!!!) Also Jasmine had a nice new empowering role in this movie. I just sort of wish Jafar had been more menacing and villainous. But his actor was fine, just a bit soft-spoken.

-Lady and the Tramp- I started it on Disney+, I need to finish it. I’m halfway there. 

-Christopher Robin is a gift; it’s both simple and complex. It has a lot of nice metaphors and I could feel my heart hurting for much of the film. Seriously good aesthetics as well, Director of Photography!!! 

-The Jungle Book is a really good remake! So much excitement, and I could totally see Bill Murray in Baloo. (I think it’s equal in terms of story to the movie Mowgli, although Mowgli had that nasty little surprise at the end, I’m still hurt about it.)(also in comparing, the CGI is similarly good, but Mowgli wanted to do a really ambitious face capture thingy and I’m not sure if it worked,(uncanny) but it was interesting! It was also a lot darker. I think they’re both good.) Ben Kingsley was superb, of course, as Bagheera, as always, and he has a really fatherly voice(I thought Christian Bale did well as Bagheera as well, but he was more of an action figure in that movie, less of a father/teacher figure). And John Favreau, as always, went the extra mile to bring the action, the writing, and the moral through, and made it super good for children at the same time!(the same cannot be said about Mowgli, as there were some violence/action things that go beyond ‘peril’, hence it’s PG-13 rating) My one discrepancy was the voice of Kaa. Scarlet did fine, but I always thought of Kaa as a boy. I think they could have found a slithery voice actor for Kaa. Benedict Cumberbatch did really well as Smaug, hissing and growling, and he could have done well. I also think that Tom Hiddleston could have done a great job; he has a really gentle and pliant voice that can turn menacing in the matter of seconds, and if it’s about the snake being sexy as Scarlet Johanssen(haha what??), I think that Hiddles can bring it.(I’m not quite sure what I’m talking about at this point so I’ll shut up now.) I do feel like Mowgli started shooting way before The Jungle Book was even a glimmer in John Favreau’s eye, and that kind of makes me want to root for Mowgli because I’m sure that different movie houses have people working in both, probably swapping stories with their friends, and I’m sure it wasn’t an exact copy, but I can totally see Bill Murray in Baloo’s face and that can’t be by accident. Just saying. Not calling Disney out or anything, but I’m sure they can take it, they have like a trillion dollars. Anyway. Still a good one.

-Haven’t seen Pete’s Dragon.

-101 Dalmations, I know this shouldn’t count but it just does. I loved watching this as a child. I’m so happy they didn’t make the dogs talk? Haha it usually works when they do, but it gave a lot of room for Doctor House and Mister Weasley to interact. Also Glenn Close is great. I think this movie’s a good example of a career woman who decides to get domesticated and her sista is like, “Girl, you can’t do this! We have to be strong women! You have to come back to work!” But Anita is all, “Girl, respect my decisions! Feminism isn’t forcing your girl to be exactly like you, it’s giving me the respect to make my own decisions. If I want to have a baby with my husband, that’s fine. I want to be a mom!” I feel like the “new” 101 dalmatians remake they’re gonna make, will have a different opinion. Similar to wicked and maleficent, it’s going to humanize Cruella, but I just hope that they’re nice to Anita. She’s such a smol soft bird and if she wants 2 billion dogs and one baby, that’s fine... ugh, that’s gotta be like so much dog poop in her house... anita what are you doing...

-Maleficent. Obviously I love it. I love how those arguing fairies are super incompetent at raising Aurora because they’re too busy fighting, so Maleficent has to swoop in and rescue the princess. I like how Maleficent is a fae and it’s so sad how there’s like this rape metaphor when Stefan cuts off her wings, and that would be reason to curse his baby, especially because they were in love and he betrayed her! Stole her wings! Married someone else! T^T Maleficent, you poor misunderstood fairy! I love her motherly relationship with Aurora. I love that she’s the one who kisses her forehead to wake her up because Philip met her just that day. However, I don’t like how they just shove Philip out of the way, because Sleeping Beauty is honestly so romantic, and I love how they dance together and everything. I also like the raven boi. I ship him and Maleficent so hard and I hope he doesn’t die in the sequel, I haven’t seen it yet.

-So technically the Parent Trap is a remake. It’s awesome. It gave my childhood so much romance and prank ideas. It’s much better than its predecessor, especially because the mom in the old one is, like, urged to look prettier by her butler(wtf?!?! YOu’re FIrEd?!?). I’m so glad we’ve come so far.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Are the remakes better? In some cases they are. I think Cinderella is better than its predecessor. I think the original Alice is very good, as a nonsense movie, and I feel like the remake is equally good, but they’re different movies with different motives and plots. The original Beauty and the Beast is my favorite and it’s perfect, so the new one isn’t better, but it is really great and I love it, too. Anyway, that’s all.

[infiniteshawn]

for blurb night: watching a scary movie and Shawn gets scared (instead of you) and he has to cuddle u after in bed cause he’s still scared

I blurbed!

The credits rolled as Shawn clung to your middle, face buried in your neck.

“That one really gotcha, eh?” you giggled, raking your fingers through his soft curls as he shook his head with a smile.

“Uh, no,” he lied, grabbing the remote and shutting the TV off.

“Whatever you say, Mendes,” you smiled, getting off of the couch and wandering into the bedroom. You brushed your teeth and ran a comb through your hair as Shawn crawled in bed, tugging the covers up to his neck. You rinsed your mouth and shut the bathroom light off, leaving the two of you in the pitch black.

“Babe, turn the fucking light on,” Shawn firmly pleaded with you, causing you to burst out laughing as you flicked the light back on. You crawled into bed with him and he snuggled into your side.

“Can I be the little spoon tonight?” he asked quietly, breaking your heart as you tried not to giggle.

“Of course,” you smiled, wrapping your small frame around his massive body and softly rubbing your hand over his.

A soft thud from the people living above you made Shawn jump and quickly sit up, heart racing.

“What the fuck was that?” he hissed, your shoulders shaking with laughter.

“Shawn, shh, it’s fine,” you smiled, snuggling into his strong chest. He fell silent for a few seconds, deep in thought.

“Babe, remember being a kid, and a movie would scare the shit outta you, and you’d have to watch cartoons or something?” he asked softly, fingers twirling your loose waves.

“Yeah, to get your mind off it,” you replied quietly.

“Well, I have another way to get my mind off it,” he smirked, flipping you beneath him and kissing you, hard.

[realitachifacts]

🍫 - a box of chocolates

i’m not sure if i did this right or not but i had an idea so Here We Go. thanks for sending an ask!!! i might’ve messed up the timeline but it’s whatever. also omfg it’s so long for a drabble whoops.

-…-

He doesn’t remember the day when he was a year old.

He doesn’t remember the day when he was two years old.

He doesn’t remember the day when he was three years old, or maybe he does, but there’s this sort of unconsciousness memory repression he has, regarding events involving the majority of his family members.

He remembers one thing from the day when he was four years old. His mother walks over, she sits down next to him on wooden steps outside the house and she meets his eyes and there’s this summer bright smile all over her face and she asks Itachi how he’d feel about having a younger sibling. He returns that smile, teeth white like the unblemished moon and says that would make him very happy. His mother hands him a small box of chocolates, the outside pink as soft flower down and there’s a cartoon animal, looks almost like a ferret, on the side. He’s replayed the memory a few times in his head, and he can never remember the time of day, the weather. It’s different each time, midday, hot breath of breeze and flinching young leaves, midnight, an ink sky with stars indented in it as if it’s been fashioned with millions of tiny diamonds.

When he’s five, the day is far more memorable. Itachi is going to be joining the academy soon, there’s pulsing in his heart over that, excitement, he’s been working on the fireball jutsu and shurikenjutsu outside of class, has mastered the former even to the point of his father’s satisfaction. His body was glowing warmer and brighter than those licks of red and orange and red and yellow and red tongues of flame hot inches above the lake’s surface. Anyways, he sits outside, Sasuke there in his arms, and their mother’s gotten Itachi a box of chocolates, same as last time, namesake cartoon of an animal right there, curled up into the pink of the box. He’s been told Sasuke isn’t allowed to have any of the chocolates yet, and Itachi, he can’t wait until he’s old enough to share. Itachi loves sweets, the way they melt so soft against his tongue. He wonders if Sasuke will feel the same. There’s a half moon like a sideways smile thousands and thousands of miles up in the air.

When he’s six, just months from seven, things again are crystal bright in his mind. A few weeks left before Academy finals, which Itachi has no worry over, none at all, and he’s sitting outside on the porch again, Sasuke there too, few months from two, sitting in his older brother’s lap. Itachi is eating chocolates, same brand as before, same gift from his mother, and Sasuke reaches for one. “Oh? You want one of these?” Itachi says, small grin, closed lips on his face, sweet expression, and Sasuke nods, reaches out further. Itachi gives him one, and Sasuke chews it for just a bit, before spitting it out, all disgusted, lip curled high at the edge, and Itachi sighs.

“Ew.” Sasuke whines, and Itachi lets out a light breath of amusement.

“Sorry about that, Sasuke.”

When he’s seven, it’s another memorable day. He’s nearly mastered the sharingan, the third black comma mark edging the iris is finally there, and something Itachi realizes that he likes is genjutsu, mind manipulation and alteration and shifting of reality. He’s getting better and better at it. Sasuke sits to the left of him, again on those wooden steps, damp and rotting inside from the recent rainfalls. And it’s even become a joking tradition to give Itachi the chocolates, brand name a play on his own, word for weasel. Sasuke watches him eat in silence, seems to have learned his lesson from last time, swings his legs back in forth in loose scissor motions. Itachi looks over at him.

“Hm?”

Sasuke’s head whips up and he looks at Itachi like he always does, like his older brother has given him the world. “How do I make my eyes red?”

Sasuke’s seen him training, probably, Itachi thinks. “It’s called the sharingan. You’ll probably be able to do it when you’re older.” Tries to keep it simplistic, terms for a two and a half year old.

“Sha…rin…gan.” Sasuke seems to feel out the word on his tongue. It’s quiet again for a few moments and crickets sing in the dusky light, brightness dying down as the sun edges into sleep. Sasuke points to Itachi’s chocolate box. “Can I have one?”

Itachi smiles softly and hands one over to Sasuke, who chews it, looks all disgusted, but at least has the decency not to spit it out this time. He swallows with a grimace. “Ew.”

Itachi smiles almost guiltily. “Sorry about that, Sasuke. Try not to eat any more in the future.”

Sasuke just pouts at that.

Year eight is uneventful, year nine even more so.

When he’s ten, Itachi is in the middle of the Chunin exams, and deep down in his heart he nearly pleads for Sasuke to be the focus of their parents’ love and adoration, to have a day of his own. He’s a few hours into the Forest of Death, trees stretch long necks of trunks up to reach for the heavens, knotted branches grasp into thin air. Drops of light bleed down between the few areas where the sun can slip through wood and leaves. Itachi reaches into his small pack of tools for a kunai knife, there’s a fish in his other hand, ready to be gutted, and Itachi feels an. Object. Of some sort, in the ninja pouch. He pulls it out.

Pink box of chocolates, “Good Luck!” sprawled across the top in Sasuke’s rough and messy handwriting. Itachi smiles. He’ll pass the exam. He won’t let Sasuke down ever.

He’s a Chunin at eleven, in ANBU at twelve, or maybe earlier than that, these are all all memories he wants nothing more than ever to forget.

When he’s thirteen, it’s the worst. He stands in the Hokage’s office because he is supposed to be on a mission right now, the sky is milky pale with dawn and caterpillar bloated white clouds, and Itachi is talking to the Hokage, oh so very annoyed and scared and anxious, a barely teenager just restraining shaking at the edges of his skin.

“My clan won’t relent. The likelihood is that we’ll have to continue with our last resort plan soon.” Itachi keeps his voice placating. “Lord Hokage. Don’t send me on the mission. I would like just one last holiday with my parents… One last holiday with my brother.” Sasuke, pure and clean of all this black sin and corruption, one last holiday for Itachi’s favorite person in the whole wide world. And the third Hokage looks Itachi Uchiha up and down with those wise old owl eyes, assessing everything about him, every one of Itachi’s movements, fidgets gnarled and wrinkled fingers down the neck of his pipe. Makes a ‘hmmm’ sound. 

“Very well.”

His voice is so, so raspy, Itachi thinks.

That night, Itachi sits with his brother on the porch, and Sasuke goes on to talk about his day at school and all of the kids in his class and this one boy who particularly annoys him, and Itachi drowns himself in every word because his aching heart knows that he may never hear them, Sasuke sounding excited, happy to see him. Eventually, their mother tells them to go inside, and Itachi walks up to his room, and there’s this pink box of chocolates with a cartoon ferret on the side nestled there in his sheets, and Sasuke’s handwriting is across the top, quickly scrawled note of “I love you forever, Itachi!”.

Life is cruel, Itachi thinks.

He eats one of the chocolates, unable to stomach the rest.

When he’s fourteen, he spends his first Valentine’s day in the Akatsuki. They don’t celebrate Valentine’s day, not really, and he’s recently been assigned a new partner, ocean mist blue-gray skin and shark gills, tall man named Kisame, who Itachi respects, he’s a strong fighter at the very least. The two have a sort of mutual understanding, they leave each other alone, communicate only when necessary, not because they don’t like each other, just because Itachi truly just wants to be isolated from most everyone. He’s reclusive. They both know this. And that’s why Itachi is surprised when Kisame sits next to him, out in the rain speckled grass outside the inn, looking up at the white spider eyes of stars in the darkness and forcing his face, his body into not displaying emotions. 

“Eh? Somethin’ on your mind?” Kisame asks, and Itachi is silent. Doesn’t even look over.

Neither of them speak for a long, long time.

Kisame gets up. “Look, I’m not one for drinking myself, but you’re down right now, so c’mon, I’ll pay.”

Itachi keeps his eyes on the stars. “I wouldn’t be able to, even if I desired it. I’m fourteen.”

“Yer HOW OLD now?!” Kisame gapes. “Heheh, fourteen? Damn, I thought you were twenty or somethin’. You sure look it, and ya act that way. I guess the world is full of surprises, huh?” He waves his hand as he walks back to the inn. “G’night.”

“Kisame.” Itachi turns, oh so slightly, looks straight at Kisame.

“Hm?” Kisame turns to meet his gaze with his shark eyes, black and pale.

“Thank you.”

That night, Itachi looks deep, deep into his tools pack. He finds a small pink box, writing on the top, at the bottom. He eats a single chocolate from it, and none of them have gone stale, even a little bit.

He reads the writing at the top again and again and again before he goes to sleep that night. 

It’s starting to get harder to. 

The words are a bit blurry.

When he’s fifteen, nothing all that important happens. He and Kisame are in some small village in the Land of Fire, their organization’s numbers are growing, and Itachi is glad, at least, he has a partner he can tolerate, one he’s even grown to consider a close friend.

His only friend.

Really, it’s… not as if there’s a large pool to choose from. But Itachi isn’t very social, as it is, isn’t fond of making or maintaining friends in the dangerous world he lives in now, wearing a black cloak with red clouds. There’s no important mission that day and so Kisame takes Itachi to a small tea shop, one of his favorite things, there’s mainly silence, Kisame shares a few words to a nearly empty room, Itachi nods at a few of them, responds to even fewer. It doesn’t bother his partner, though. They’ve come to accept this as their friendship.

They camp under a full moon that night and Itachi eats another chocolate, again miraculously not stale. He reads the words on the box until his head hurts.

His heart hurts, too.

He knows Sasuke doesn’t mean them anymore.

But that’s for the better.

Years sixteen and seventeen are uneventful. Itachi eats a chocolate each time.

When he’s eighteen, things begin to get worse. He’d seen his brother again, for the first time in years, and he looks colder, Itachi thinks, he looks broken, and he charged at Itachi with lightning in his hand and fire in his eyes and sharingan irises the color of the petals of lover’s roses and Itachi grabbed his arm, and forced Sasuke to relive his pain again and again and again and he told him how he lacked hate, a motivator, if anything, and he wants his brother to get stronger, but he’s beginning to wonder, really, if he’s doing this the right way, because Sasuke has become someone made of cracking glass.

“He looks like you, ya know.” Kisame said, at the time, and Itachi agrees, silently. They’re brothers, after all. But Kisame says little about it after that. As far as he knows, as far as everyone knows, Itachi could care less about Sasuke, if he lives or dies. It’s not an appropriate topic to broach, even with his best friend.

The day itself is boring. 

He spends most of it on the road, walking under trees alive with birds.

Itachi eats another chocolate that night.

It takes significantly more effort than he’s used to to make out each word written on the pink box, with the ferret on it.

When he’s nineteen, things are the worst they’ve been in a long time.

Itachi is at the side of the road, his whole body is aching and rush after rush of hot blood leaves his mouth with each cough, his whole body shivers, wracked with trembling and spasms. Eventually, he leans back against a tree, breathing heavy, and Kisame sits next to him, watching oh so very carefully.

“It’s gettin’ worse.” There’s concern, actually, in his voice.

“I’m aware.” It’s not dismissive, it’s sad, lonely, like a lost ghost. It’s hard to come to terms with these things, after all. “I’ve been taking medications and trying to care for my body otherwise, but there’s little more I can do than that.”

They try to start down the trail again but it’s clear that it really isn’t a good day for Itachi, not at all, so they camp in the woods that night, and Kisame catches some fish for them, and Itachi starts a fire with a Fire Style jutsu, and Itachi doesn’t want it but he takes it anyways, thanks Kisame for the effort he’s put in. 

Itachi keeps track of the days. He eats another chocolate.

He can only read two of the five words his brother has written, now. But maybe if Sasuke’s handwriting was better at the time, that would be different.

When he’s twenty, he eats the last chocolate in the box. Only one of the words Sasuke wrote is distinguishable to fading, dying eyes.

Now he’s twenty one, and he’s grocery shopping, of all things, with Kisame, they’re walking down the aisles and Itachi cannot believe even a little bit that nobody has approached them yet, that there haven’t been any strange looks. Still. They reach what is probably the candy aisle, Itachi thinks, and his eyes drift down it all bored before they stop on something.

Familiar, almost.

It’s pink, and there’s a shape on the side, white and brown, amorphous, indistinguishable. He tries to read the brand name, the lettering, any of the words.

He can’t.

They’re all faded blurs in his eyes.

Itachi picks up the box, motions to Kisame, who walks over. “What is the brand name?”

Kisame tells him. It’s… exactly what Itachi expected.

“You like sweet stuff. We should get it for you, it’s even got a ferret on the box. A weasel, just for you, heheh.”

Itachi thinks. He’s silent for a while.

He puts the box back on the shelf.

“I’ll be alright.”

That night, Itachi is back at the inn, and the moon in the sky is full and bloodied red, crimson dripping over it like a fresh severed corpse, like a heart pumping fast from love. He pulls the box, empty, from the bottom of his bag. It smells like chocolate, faintly. Itachi walks outside, walks for a long, long time before he’s nowhere, at least to him. He sits on the ground, under a pine tree that’s likely older than the oldest building in the whole entire land. Itachi’s chest jolts in pain and then he’s coughing out warm blood, digging his fingers into fabric, clenching to alleviate the suffering somehow, he has one hand over his mouth but even then drops slip between fingers and when he pulls it back his hand is stained liquid garnet. Itachi cleans his hands and mouth with some water from a small canteen. He’s started carrying one for this purpose.

Itachi uses his ninja tools to carve a small fire pit into the dusty soil. 

He looks at the area on the box where black meets pink, and he can’t even read a single letter anymore, but he knows what all of them say, he’s read Sasuke’s note over and over and over again, he knows the words by heart. Itachi places the box in the pit, nestled into loose earth. He is dying, and he knows he is dying, and he wants to and will soon be dead, and he knows how he wants it to happen. The Sasuke who gave him chocolates is not the one he will meet in a few weeks, or at most, few months. It’s best to cleanse these memories from his mind. Give them the funerals they deserve. 

He uses fireball jutsu to set the box aflame, it’s careful and controlled, and within minutes there’s nothing left but puffs of silky gray ash and charcoal.

Itachi looks up at the sky.

The reflection of a blood moon dances across the crow talon darkness of his irises, sharingan dormant.

I love you forever, Itachi!

���I love you forever too, Sasuke.” Itachi whispers, and there’s nobody to hear him except the night sky and the moon and the trees and the millions and millions of stars all around them. 

[ask-the-friendly-ink-demon]

ITotP Short- No Longer Human?

this was slightly and mostly based off of an roleplay on discord i did with @core4lost oof. that's pretty much it  and OOF two shorts in a row? and this one is freaking longer?! oof truth be told i actually worked on this first and waited until i made the other one so lol.- this’ll be kept under a read more option due to how long this is-

based slightly off of an Roleplay i did on discord with core4lost and OOF henry's finally an toon... kinda XD and yesss my beloved little toon dino finally got into the story~~~ bless her ^^ XD ------ It had only been an few days since everything had transpired bendy was currently resting on the couch as he waited for Henry and Norman to return from an supply run, Corr was at the table doodling on the piece of paper while waiting on Henry and Norman. he was actually trying to draw cartoons while they wait. Boris being the nosy one he sometimes is comes over and places his gent pipe down "hm hey corr what's ya drawing?" the wolf asked the small demon as Corr looks up to Boris and looks down at his drawing. "um...just...doodling...I guess.." as Corr thought it was actually nothing but Corr was actually good at making cartoon characters. he even made a doodle of Bendy and even doing sketches of other toon characters. Boris Smiled and patted the little demon on the head "well that's good it's nice to do something that can keep ya busy for a bit" the wolf said smiling kindly and proudly. Corr nodded as he tries to think about another idea of what to draw next. but was also curious of when Henry and Norman will be back, it took an while but the projectionist and the retired animator returned both with bags of supplies "we're back" henry said as bendy's horns perked up his smile returning "Henry!" the hooded demon said as his tail flickered. Corr perks up as he looks over to see Henry and Norman finally got back seeing they got some supplies. As the door closed behind the two Henry streched an bit as he spoke "sorry we're late we ran into some trouble as always" Henry said as Norman placed down one bag his projecter light seem dimmer than usual. The Small Demon looks over to the bag as he was curious to know what they brought while they were out scavenging throughout the studio. "wha did you guys find?" Henry looked up in response to corr's question "just basic stuff like actual food for one, besides that" he pulled out an crowbar "i found this lying around at the end of a hallway seems to be belong to someone who worked here, must of been after i left" he said as he putted it down near the table. Corr makes an little teasing smirk "or if someone was trying to breakout maybe?~" Corr rest his head on his hand while leaning on the table. The Retired Animator shrugged not really getting the punchline "eh maybe, either way none of us have some use for it so" he places it near corr as he noticed bendy was looking through the bag pulling out what seem to be an old worn out bowtie he frowns slightly at it as he puts it back in the back the hooded demon turning his head away slightly. Corr frowns knowing that they do need supplies in order to survive down here, but what more they can do? or even how long where they even staying here for? all he can possibly do was...draw. even he's surprised knowing how good he was as if he was born to do artwork like Henry does his animation. Henry notices what corr was doing and smiles as he walked over "hey that's pretty good drawing there corr where ya learned to do that?" he said looking at the artwork with an sense of impress in his expression. The young demon looks up at Henry then to his drawing wondering how he actually learn this. but...it was a good question. how...how did he learn this? was he just good at drawing or just talented? "um...I...I-I don't know...I just...felt like drawing." Corr drew some cartoon characters that was based off of Bendy characters like Edger, Charlie, Barlie, Bendy, and even Corr as well. plus some human cartoon characters as well. Henry smiled and patted the small demon on the head "well it's very good, it even almost matches my skill" he said chuckling an bit with an smirk. Corr weakly smiled thinking if he wasn't a toon, he would work with Henry as a animator. "heh...t-thanks..." Corr lightly wags his tails as Henry smiled "ya welcome, hey bendy" he said to the hooded demon as the toon looked up "hm? what is it Henry" he asked as the retired animator grabbed his axe "i might head out again for a bit, wanna join in?" the demon nodded "eh sure, beats doing nothing" bendy said shrugging as Henry turned over to look at corr "if ya feeling okay to move about corr you can also come with us, who knows we might come across something you might like" he said with an slight shrug. the small demon nodded as he tilts his head "um...o-ok...my hand need a break from drawing anyway..." Corr hops off the chair as he hurries up to Bendy and Henry as they were about to go out to explore the studio. Henry blinked "oh right now? i mean we just got back and a-" bendy got up "Henry it's fine besides i could use an little walk to wake my legs up" the retired animator nodded "right, Boris make sure everyone's alright while we're gone make sure to come to us as fast as you can if you see Shawn start acting up" the wolf nodded and gave Henry an salute as he rolled his eyes while smiling "good boy" he said as the wolf smiled and stuck his tongue out. Corr smiled as he wags his tails since he's going out with Bendy to explore. but he hopes that nothing will pop out and try to hurt them on their way out.somehow they all knew that it won't be a peaceful walk in the park as they moved out. bendy was whistling as he had his hands in his hoodie's pocket as Henry kept an eye out they were possibly just looking for an easier way to get to joey's office if they could find one Corr looks around but also looked forward while following Henry and the demon as they were walking down the hallway. bendy stared at few posters as they walked about he noticed another poster that had corr in it with Boris he smirked "hey corr, look it's another poster with you" he said as Henry turned over looking at where the demon was pointing Corr perks up as he turns to where the poster was as he lightly smiled. " heh...wow! didn't know I was with Boris in this poster! " Corr smiled as this was the first time he actually seen a poster with himself and Boris. all he seen was himself and Bendy. but this one was new to him. the poster reads the name "Corr the demon and Boris the wolf in: misadventures in demonsitting" Henry chuckles an bit at the name "well~~ that's something new" henry said sinckering as corr blinks with bendy trying to hide his laughter. Corr blushed as he tries the hide his face thinking that was...a bit embarrassing. Henry studies the poster an bit more and saw that corr in the poster was holding an bone giggling like an devil as boris in the poster was chasing after him holding an spoon. it did look more like an comedy poster for a gag. corr rubbed his arm with a nervous expression "a-ah maaaannn..." Corr felt very embarrassed when he saw the picture poster. but...'demonsitting?' him?..." w-why would I do that..." Corr whimpers an bit as bendy spoke up "maybe i got turned into a kid and you and Boris had to watch me?" he said shrugging as corr blinks and pointed to the poster once again "but Bendy....the poster don't lie..." Corr frowns seeing it was actually himself noticing his own crooked horns and his odd smiling teeth as well. bendy blinks and shrugs "maybeee they did'int have enough room to put me in it?" he said as he did know joey kinda hated Henry's design of himself with the hoodie and all but it was the one that came out of the ink machine. Corr frowns as he looks at the poster one last time before they started to move on. Bendy and Henry moved on as well eventually the two seemed to have reached an two way corridor "how messy is this maze?!" bendy said groaning as Henry tried thinking of a way to go as Corr looks up to Henry wondering if he knew which was to go since he has no idea on where to go on from here, plus Bendy and Henry both has weapons to defend themselves with while all he had was... his well 'gift' his transformation as bendy would call it but all he himself called it was an monster, an monster that he's trying to avoid to become but the ink does somewhat messes up his instincts to resit his power. he tried thinking and decided to flip an coin "heads means we go left, tails means we go right" he said as bendy nodded "heads" he said as he putted his hands in his hoodie's pockets as henry said "tails" he said as he flips the coin as he catches it and looks at it "welp, we're going left it seems" Soon they start to head to the left direction as they go down the hallway. Corr looks behind him to make sure nothing was following them or even a ink creature as well. He pick up his footing just to keep up with the both of them there was nothing seem to be coming up, aside from the recent noises of the machine or the pipes all seemed quiet... almost too quiet Corr was a bit worried knowing that it was a bit too quiet from what he has expected when they first left the safe house. when they usually leave the safe house, they tend to encounter either searchers, the butcher gang, or something worst then them all together. "why is it so quiet?...." Corr question to Bendy and Henry with a worried voice. as the demon and retired animator looked around "i... don't know... maybe it has something to do with whatever is causing this noise?" henry said as bendy shrugged "i don't mind it, as long as it keeps you know who away that's all that matters" even though the ink demon did show signs of mercy for bendy more often he still doesn't fully trust him he was hellbent on killing him and henry and he wanted to remain enemies but... he still had that faint memory of him and the ink demon being... brothers. the demon sighed silently as he looked around some more. they kept going further down the hall as Corr was starting to get a bit unsettled like something or someone was watching them. he stays close to Henry and Bendy as he felt a bit unsure of this situation. pairs of inky soulless eyes were indeed watching them looking similar to the lost ones "huh.. why are lost ones wandering this far out where they usually are?" henry said as bendy pulled out his revolver "i have an bad feeling.." he said as Corr was staying behind Henry and Bendy looking scared of why the lost ones would be wandering out here in the first place. The three arrived in a clearing as Henry stayed calm, bendy however was still wary "we can't stop here... i have an bad feeling something's following us the moment we got out of that safe-house" he said as corr looked up "you sure? who could be following us?" Corr looks to Bendy as he was curious of who or what might be following them when they first got out of the safe house. bendy shrugs "i... don't know but i have an bad feeling there's a lot" Corr looks around wondering of who or what might be stalking them as Corr gaze the room if he can find out what this stalker might be. searchers suddenly popped out of nowhere, an whole hoard of them looks like but... they seem to look different almost more... lizard like?Corr jumps as he sees what looks like....searchers but more different. "uh...g-guys!...what are those..." Corr looks at those strange searchers that looked lizard like that came out of the ground and was coming close to them as henry pulled out his axe "i-i don't know?!" the retired animator said said as bendy aimed his gun 'strange... they don't look like they been used or tainted by the knife's blood.... maybe an new breed of searchers?' the demon thought but he quickly shook his head as he shot in the air trying to scare them off as he looked over at the small demon "corr get behind me, now!!" the demon said as henry pulled out his shotgun aiming it at one who got too close as he fired it the searcher creature falling down as it melted to ink. the other searchers noticed but quickly started to advance more now. Corr went behind Bendy as Bendy and Henry started to shoot the strange mutated searchers. seeing they were advancing forward, Corr looked panicked as they were getting close. "w-we should get outta here like now guys!" the two nodded as henry tried looking for a opening. bendy sighed "get behind me you two!" he said as ink started to ooze from his body, henry knew what that meant as he went behind the demon as he placed his gun away as bendy started to transform into his inked state. Corr stay behind Henry as Bendy was about to go all out on those strange mutated searchers that was coming after them in the first place. when he transform into his ink state the searchers stopped. the 7 foot tall looming demon cracked his 'knuckles' if ya count one hand having three long inky claws while the other an glove knuckles. the searchers started to... back away? they did'int look afraid almost like they were waiting for something Corr peaks around Bendy to see they weren't attacking Bendy as if they seem to be startled or afraid. but it might be his own guess. "are they afraid of you Bendy?" Corr was kinda curious of why those strange searchers stopped. the inked demon shook his head "NO... I DON'T KNO-" his horns waddled when he heard an groaning noise. henry turned around to see swollen variants of the same mutated searchers as they started to surround the two. bendy quickly grabbing corr and henry as he lunges pass the swollen searchers and made an beeline for it not caring about his limp like stance. the searchers were moving slowly well the swollen ones were since they were more bigger and full of thick ink. Corr yelped as he was picked up by Bendy as they were hurrying out of the situation to get out from all the searchers and even the swollen ones as well, after what seems to be 30 minutes they seemed to have gotten away from the chaos abit not before killing an few of those strange searchers which henry got an closer look at them the heads seem to have an skull like helmet on their lizard like heads wonder why though. Bendy panted as he turned back to his toon form holding his knees as he panted "gonna.... hate..... doing that..... always." he said groaning as he wipes off an bit of ink off his face. Corr looks behind them to see if they actually lost them. "dont see them coming, I hope we lost them by now...where are we now anyway?" as Corr looks around the place to see where they were now. the room they were in seen cleaned unlike the other ones they seems to be an few items stacked on the shelves as well as a few pictures "don't know... seems kinda clean though" bendy said as henry looked away "seems like an small little rest stop for someone... but for who?" Corr saw a couch as he scurries over there and plops onto it seeing it was comfy. henry noticed "corr you should rest up, i'll scout ahead, bendy you can come al-" he already noticed the demon was not in the room "should of know-" he saw corr was already asleep "..... heh......" he rolled his eyes and placed his survival knife near the couch as he pulled out his axe and walked out the door going to make sure they don't have any more hostiles nearby. Corr curled up on the couch as he snuggles his body at the far back of the couch so his body wont fall over from where he was sleeping. after what seemed like 20 minutes corr started to hear an... wheezing like sound? it sounded like in pain and very close. the ink demon groaned as it entered the room holding his neck in pain as it stumbled hissing slightly in pain due to the limp and the sudden way he's holding his own neck as he coughed and wheezed. Corr slowly woke up when he heard wheezing sounds as he slowly lift his head from the couch until he sees the ink demon in the room. Corr curls up his body as he has no idea the demon would come in here of all places. He notices the knife but the ink demon does not even seem to notice corr as he was busy trying to get whatever it was out of his neck as ink seem to start dripping from his mouth the terriflying supposed ruler of ink was in pain as he whimpered and whaiiled as he crashes himself onto the wall seem to have given up as he gives an few pained groans too tired and exhuasted to look up or to do anything. the way he was sitting in pain and losing hope reminded him of someone. Corr sees the knife that might belong to Henry, but then when he looks over to the ink demon, he felt a bit guilty and sad seeing him in pain. it reminds him of Bendy when he was struggling with pain when he had to help him with medicine. Corr looks over to the knife then to the ink demon as if he has to choose from one another. and from that point....Corr got off the couch as he slowly approached the ink demon cautiously hoping that he was ok. he looks up to the ink demon seeing ink was seeping down it's own neck seeing how bad it was, but maybe he can bandage it up to get it better. "uh...h-hello?" the ink demon flinched an bit when it heard someone but he couldn't see who since there were no cutouts in the room. corr noticed something... stuck to the demon's neck almost like an... shock collar? Corr's eyes widen seeing a collar around his own neck. "i-is that thing hurting you!" Corr stairs at the awful collar. "here! let me help get it off..." Corr slowly went closer to the ink demon hoping that he'll listen. The ink demon hissed lowly but was too tired and wounded to do anything. it seemed the collar was put on rather tight and seems to shock itself every 20 minutes. he would need something sharp to destroy the part that controls the shocks in the collar. Corr looks behind him as he rushed over to get Henry's knife and rush over to the ink demon. Corr lightly touch the ink demon knowing he was here and not to harm him. " it's ok...I'm here to help..." Corr looks at the collar as he tries to unhook the collar that was hurting him. he snarls as he felt the knife's blade interact with his skin as he thrashes his head despite knowing that he had to unhook the collar. the ink demon quickly gave up as he got tired again only giving out pained moan like sounds. Corr yelped when the ink demon trashed about when Corr accidently let the blade slip. but hopefully it wont happen again. " s-s-sorry!?...l-let me try again...p-please..." Corr whimpers as he goes to the collar again hoping he wont fail again...or worst...get hurt.the ink demon gave up long ago he only lifted his head to stare at corr for a bit despite being blind his face hidden by the ink corr could see an glimmer of... humanity left in that creature as the ink demon weakly wheezed "....W.....W...wHy?... wHY DiD YoU... sAvE ME fRoM fAlLiNg To MY dEaTh.... I WoUlD oF sImPlY cAmE baCk To LifE iN a DaY or TwO... sO wHy...?" he weakly attempted to say as he coughed and wheezed the collar started to blink an bit meaning there was only 10 minutes left before another shock treatment will run through the ink demon's body. Corr heard the ink demon talked to him while he was fixing his way to get the shock collar off of him. he was unscrewing the bolts until it was unhooked while using the knife. "well...you...kinda reminded me of someone...he's...well...I know it's strange there's two Bendy's, but seeing you like another half of him...it makes me think of you like a big brother! and I wanna look out for you....y-you know..." The Ink Demon Stares At him for a moment taking in all the words ".....H...HeHe...." he weakly lifted his head back as he made an wheezing like sound "....I..... I hAvE nO bRotHErS.... beSidES... ThaT paRT of ME dIEd A LoNg TiME agO..." he said looking off into a shelf as there was an picture of bendy with another demon that seemed about an bit taller and more on model save for the red pie-cut eyes and classy gloves and shoes along with the striped bowtie. was that.. the ink demon before he became what he was now? the young demon pouted when the ink demon said that. " ey! if you died a loooooonnnnngggg time ago....why are you here hmm? your still alive. I can see you....are you a ghost? plus I can feel you...so that means your real...and that means your my brother!? your no ghost brother, your my bro bro!" Corr was close to getting out the last screw on the collar since it was tricky to unscrew it out. the ink demon growled ... rather very darkly at corr in a murderous manner when he kept repeating the word brother he was starting to get on his nerves. The Young demon frowns sadly as he stop talking as he unscrew the last bolt. as he did, the collar was finally off and clattered on the floor. "....done...." Corr lowered his head knowing that the ink demon didn't want a brother like him. the ink demon stared as he felt the collar loosen he rubbed his neck as he stares ".....T....ThaNk.... yOU...." he said as he tried standing up he only managed to get up for a bit before he fell back down opening an random ink portal as the ink demon fell through it leaving the room instantly as it closed back up. Corr was left alone feeling a bit sad when the ink demon didnt want to have a brother and even growls at him grumpily. he walks over to the couch and plops onto it as he waits for Henry and Bendy to come back. he heard an short scream coming outside the room it sounded like henry. Corr jumps as he heard Henry, he was about to run out the door, but he wasnt armed. he hurries back to get the knife as scurries out the door to go find Henry. "H-H-HENRY!? Henry where are you!?" he hears an groaning noise as around the corridor henry was struggling to get one of the mutated searcher like creatures off of him. The Young Demon looks surprised and scared seeing Henry was getting covered by mutated searchers. " H-Henry!? " Corr whimpered as he didn't know what to do, he only has a knife but....was a bit nervous of what those things will do or if they might be strong. " I-I-I'm coming! " Corr frowns as if he'll sacrifice himself if he has to save Henry. Corr went up to a searcher and tries to slash one behind them with his knife. the searcher gives out an whail as Henry kicked the searcher off he grabs his axe and slices one's head off as he quickly grabbed his gun and shot the swollen mutated lizard like searcher. he panted and looked at corr and gave him an thumbs up "t....thanks corr would of died if ya haven't done that" he said as he tries getting up. the small demon nodded "y-y-yea....i-it was scary..." Corr whimpered since it was his first time fighting those things with Henry as he gave him an reasurring smile "don't worry, you'll get the hang of it" he said as he tried getting up, but he held his chest grittering his teeth as he coughed. the ink that was stuck to him reacted violently to the mutated searcher's ink that somehow got onto it as it ooze. Corr looks over to Henry seeing he was coughing and see the look on his face that he looks in pain. " Henry? you ok? " Corr slowly went up to him hoping that he was alright. Henry tried reasurring corr he was alright but he coughed up ink as his boots started to change to look more... cartoonish? Corr frowns as he saw ink coming out of Henry's mouth when he couched as he slowly backed away from him. he was looking scared, but then as he lowered his eyes to the floor, he looked shocked to see Henry's feet was slowly changing to what appears to be that of a toon shoes. an distorted voice called out "WhAt'S WrOnG hEnrY, THe CUrSe'S tAkiNg IT's ToLl On Ya" an creature said that looked like an lost one but like the mutated lizard searchers. this one seems to be the leader. henry did'int know why but the way that creature look felt familiar. Corr felt scared as he cowards by the boxes as he doesnt know what's happening to Henry or who's voice it belongs to. henry now an bit angry pulled out his shotgun and shot 5 bullets but they... stopped right in front of the creature when he putted his finger up as if he was magic. "w-what?!" he said outloud as the creature chuckled. Corr whimpers seeing the person holds up the bullets in the air like magic. who was this ink person...if it tries to hurt Henry, he has to distract that awful ink man with what he has...maybe the knife he has will do...maybe he can throw it at him. the creature slowly started to aim his finger at henry but an loud familiar roar was heard as the creature quickly turned around to fire the bullets that were frozen by his magic at bendy as the 7 foot tall inked demon fell to the floor growling as ink drip from the bullet wounds. the young demon screamed as he hides his head behind the box feeling so scared as he changed his mind about the knife. that thing hurt Bendy. but he was awfully scared if it might hurt Henry or even him since he's a meek. The Demon snarled as he quickly impaled the creature's body and went through the creature tearing it in half as he rolled and landed near henry "bendy!" henry said as the demon grunted and turned over and almost stared in the shock. the upper half started to move like it was an searcher as it snarled. the lower sort of half began forming an new upper half slowly. Corr however was still behind the boxes as he clench his eyes shut, not knowing what just happened while he was hiding from that strange enemy that did some weird magic from those bullets. bendy snarled as the creature streched "BEeN An WHiLE sInCE yA dID tHAt tO ME dEMoN" the creature said as bendy stared with an shock look "....Y O U! YOUR THAT SAME DRAGON LIKE CREATURE THAT ATTACKED ME AND HENRY FOR NO REASON!" he said as the creature laughed "WhY yEs dInG dInG wE hAvE aN WiNnEr" the creature grinned as Corr was too scared to come out as he curls up like a ball hoping this....so called dragon like creature would leave and everything would be fine in the end. bendy growled "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" he asks the creature as it smirked "AiNT IT obIVoUs? aFteR wHat YoU dID tO mE I WaNT rEvEngE... tHoUgH DEsPiTE ThIS bEiNG mY sEcOnd FoRm And AlL iM nOT aS... mURdErOus But StIll-" he was cut off by the demon punching him straight in the face the creature taking an step back with an angry and surprised snarl as the lizard searcher made it way towards corr. Corr didn't hear the lizard searcher coming nor even see the searcher coming as he had his eyes closed and his body curled up tight while he was hiding. plus even hearing the fight between Bendy and the other enemy they were facing. before the lizard searcher could react henry slammed his axe on the creature's head. He noticed bendy fighting off the creature and more of the searchers "HENRY! GO AND TAKE CORR OUT OF HERE" he smashes an mutated searcher's skull in "N O W!" henry quickly grabbed corr and ran as fast as he could with corr in his arms. the small demon whimpered as he curls up in Henry's arms like a frighten child. he barried his face and head to Henry's chest hoping they'll get away. he never felt so frighten just to be out here with those strange searchers. Henry could hear more of the searchers started to gang up on bendy as he heard more started to come their way as he ran faster not caring that the ink was oozing up and making his body feel tired. Corr whimpered and even shivers, hoping that those mutated searchers will go away. the young demon tries to wipe some of the small tears from his eyes as he was so scared that he was crying. an searcher decided to go faster and pounce onto Henry he accidently dropped corr into an puddle of ink as Henry struggled to get the searcher off of him suddenly more started to appear as they started to surround him Henry could feel the ink oozing from his clothing getting more painful as he tried shoving them off. corr noticed that Henry dropped his axe near the puddle also. Corr yelps as he falls to the ground but then looks over to Henry seeing he was fighting the searchers to get them off of him. then he looks over at the axe as he went over to grab it as he tries to give it to Henry. " H-H-Henry!? " Corr whimpers seeing he was awfully scared as he tries to give the axe to him, but then one searcher went around Henry to get to Corr as Corr tries to toss the axe to Henry. Corr then runs down the hall as the mutated searcher goes out after him. Henry notices as he yells out "CORR!!!" Henry said as he grabs the axe and throws it at the searcher that was going after him, he screams in pain as one searcher bit down onto the wound that bendy bit on when he lost control. Corr yelp as he turns around to see the searcher went down. Corr scurries over to pick up the axe that Henry saved him with as he hurries up to give him the axe right after he took care of the one that was biting down on Henry's shoulder. "t-thanks Henry!" Corr gives him the axe to give those awful searchers a piece of their mind. before he could give him the axe the creature from before grabs corr by the collar of his ragged shirt and lifts him up "aAhHhH I rEmEMbEr YoU.... oHhH thE peRsoN yOu WeRE beForE AlwAys So ... cURiOSU lIke noRmaN" henry tries getting out of the searchers grip but they kept pinning and attacking him down on top of the ink slowly covering his body henry was feeling the worst pain he ever felt it was like the virus was speeding up more fast than ever on his body. Corr dropped the axe as he was being lifted up by the same creature that was fighting Bendy. Corr whimpers and even struggles to get out of his own grasp, but he was too small from his own toon body. but he did say he....remembers him? how does he know him? Corr started to feel scared of the guy already, what will he do to him? henry glared at the creature trying to get off of the searchers again as he shouted "g-get your inky hands off of him!" henry said as he finally killed one of the searchers by squeezing their head so hard they popped. "aH nOw heNRy DoN't Be So HAsY YOu, i SeNSe An... dArK And MysTRiOUS aURA AroUnd You... aN mOnsTEr.. tElL mE.. wIll yOu USe ThaT pOWeR tO FrEe YOURsElf FrOm Me? Or WiLL YoU uSe IT tO sAve YoUR fRiEnd? OR bOtH" The creature said with an sinister grin "OR.. I cAn MAke IT cOme Out... aFteR All... thAT's WHaT HApPEneD to THe InK DemON~" he said with an cackle as Corr look up at the creature that was holding him in his hand as a hostage as he now knows why the ink demon was feeling so much sadness. "y-your the one that did that to him!" Corr frowns at the man sadly wishing there was a way to fix it. "HMHMHMHMH mAyBe I diD... MaYbe jOEy Did, eITheR wAy" the creature lifts his claws up "I wOndEr WHaT wIll HaPpeN.. if I Do... tH-" before the creature could do anything an loud demonic snarl was heard as bendy in his berserker form slammed the creature hard as corr was dropped into bendy's tail. the berserk demon snarl and gently placed corr down before going apeshit crazy on the creature throwing the beast over the now puddle masses of the searchers that were trampled in bendy's rampage... right onto henry. Corr whimpers when he was caught by Bendy and was placed down on the floor, but when he looks up he sees Bendy rampaging as he saw Henry was still trapped in the ink puddle as Bendy rampages. "H-Henry?!" he tried calling out to the retired animator as Henry was in the ink as only his hand could be seen. after the creature was slammed down. bendy limped over to henry giving out an distressted and sad growl "h-h-henry....." he said as he whimpered. Corr slowly went over to where Henry was as he was worried if Henry was alright since he's been taking up all the beatings for him to be safe, but right now since all that happened, he just wanna head back to the safe house with Norman. Bendy Screeched as he felt something impale his body as the demon's ink ooze onto henry's hand. the demon was thrown near corr as he reverted back to his toon form breathing and holding his chest in pain as he wheezed and coughed. The creature snarled darkly and was too busy trying to fix up all his body for the three not to notice henry's fingers twitching an bit. Corr yelped and startled when he backed away from the creature that hurt Bendy. he looks up to the creature looking frighten as he looks around for a weapon to defend himself with before he tries to take him or even hurt him. the young demon looks over to grab a wooden plank to defend himself with as he looks up to the creature. "s-s-stay back!!" he whimpers as he said that. the creature laughed "CoRr, YoU rEalLy DoN'T rEmeMbeR HmMm hOW dID thIS pLaY OuT? Oh I rEmMbeEr I graBbEd THis!~" the creature said yanking the board out of corr's hand rather quickly as he turned the plank into an axe "aNd I reMeMbEr DoInG tH-" he was cut off by something from the puddle henry was in impaling him as something emerged from the puddle it's entire body still covered in ink but an familiar set of horns can be seen on the inky figure's head. the figure's hands turned to axes as they started hacking up the creature chopping it in half mutiple times each time it grew an new half. Corr's was in horror as inky tears streams down his face. the man remember him but the pose he threaten him with...it...it was familiar...like....like he somehow knew him when he tried to stick him down. and that really scared him deeply. But what made him more frighten was another ink creature that has axes for hands as it was chopping the guy that was about to hurt him. Corr screamed bloody murder as he runs off down the hall as if trying to escape the horror of his nightmare. bendy grabs corr as he shushes him. the two looking at the fight. the inky figure seemed to attack in a similar manner henry does. bendy's eyes widen when he saw an familiar vest showed up when the ink melted off revealing some clothing on the figure as it was slammed to the wall. some of the ink covering it's face went away revealing an eye circle with pie-cut pupils. "Hm? How... iNteReStInG hEnrY... yoU... yoU UsEd The InK To yOuR ADvAntaGE.... How..... HoW VeRy... InteReStInG.. I w-" henry's arm turned into an big sword like rope as he slams the creature into the wall "ENOUGH! YOU WANTED ME TO BE SOME DAMN DEMON?! THEN F I N E" his green pie-cut eye glared as it glowed an reddish orange color "I'LL BE THE DEMON!" he said glaring and almost growling darkly at the creature. Corr yelps as he went into Bendy's arms. He was shivering like mad since he felt so scared. he didn't wanna be near that awful man, not ever when he was anywhere near him. when he was ever alone with that strange creature, it....it reminds him of...Joey....Corr felt the goosebumps just thinking about it. Henry kept fighting with the creature even though the mutated searchers that were coming up from the halves. after an while it seemed the creature was almost exhausted as by having able to keep on regrowing itself for so many times has been draining his energy. henry taking this as a chance as one hand became an sharp curved sword while the other became an axe as he rips apart the creature in half again as he slams the upper half onto the wall and the lower half started slowly regrowing itself in a painful manner as henry took this as a chance to breathe as he held his hip an slight wound was on the side of it. Corr slightly looks to Henry...or what appears to be Henry...seeing he looks a bit...different. he looks kinda like a toon. the near perfect toon demon like henry panted as he wiped off an bit more ink showing the rest of his appearance as it looked more cartoonish but also more realistic too. the creature slowly got up and henry noticed the skull of the creature was cracked. he took this as a moment to slash the creature's head off and destroy it causing the rest of the body of the creature to be destroyed. the soul reverting into the wounded upper half that was passed out as it weakly tried retreating having used up almost all it's energy. henry grabbed his shotgun as he glared at the creature with his pie-cut eyes. he shot the beast 4 times as he tried firing it again but the gun was jammed. his eyes widen when he saw an inky like aura filled the room. the creature did'int notice and turned towards the three "W-W--wHAT's W--r-ONg?! gIVewn- uP-" he said coughing and wheezing as the three looked quite shocked an bit. Corr curls up with Bendy when he notice the inky aura, it might be the ink demon that was coming their way. But Corr hopes that he'll be on easy terms since he helped get the shock collar off. the creature looks up to see the ink demon as he laughed "GrEat YoUR heRe FinaLlY, gO kIlL tHEM!" the upper damaged half of the creature said as he pointed. the ink demon tilted his head his unmoving grin growing wider and wider. henry felt an bit spooked by that the young demon frowns but then looks to the creature hoping that he'll be the one that'll get killed since he tried to harm him and even hurt everyone as well. the ink demon made an wheezing like laughter as the creature hissed "WHaT ArE yOU lAuGhINg aBouT?!" he said as he pulled out an device and pressed it. nothing happened. he looked confused and pressed it again. The ink demon's laughter getting louder as he showed him the slight scar now on the neck. the creature froze as he dropped the device he was.. afraid now as it tried crawling away. the ink demon made an sinister smile as it limped and slammed the beast into the wall and grabbed an hole of it and whispered "yA wAnNa KnOW sOmeTHinG? YoU AiNT eVeN GoNNa ReMeMbeR me KiLLINg YA~" the ink demon growled in a sadistic manner as it dragging off the creature ignoring it's cries of help and begging as it screeched in fear through it's muffled screams. Corr looked shocked and surprised when the creature pulled out the remote for....the shock collar. HE was the one that put the awful thing on the ink demon. but now he felt glad he did that as he sees the ink demon pulls the guy away as he was begging, crying and even screeching when the ink demon was actually was gonna make him suffer. the ink demon turned to look at corr as he was in the process of opening an ink portal he... gave the little demon an small and honesty smile as he made an wink. the demon going into the portal as the creature's muffled screams echoed throughout the hallsHenry panted as he held his knees. bendy now noticing the danger was gone.. dripped an few tears "h....henry?" he called out his voice broken as the toon demon that was henry turned around despite his height still being tall abit about 6 feet he stared shock but smiled sadly and opened his arms out to which the demon ran and hugged the old man crying. henry noticed corr also running up to them as he letted him join in on the hug "shhh.... it's alright.... im okay...." he said trying to comfort the two "n-no henry! it's not okay i failed you! the curse i-it spread faster than it planned! i feel so stupid ya should of never come here!" he said crying softly into henry's shoulder as the now toon demon patted his head "im... im still me aren't i? isn't that what the ink takes the most? the humanity?" he said as Corr frowns as he looks up at Henry sadly seeing he doesn't look like himself anymore, but a toon version of Bendy...but taller. Corr frowns just thinking about that guy remembering him but he doesnt remember him back. but the pose he did when he was about to strike down on him seems familiar. But did someone hurt him before he got turned into a toon? Henry still mildly looked the same save for his green vest now an more darker green as his grey shirt was an bit more grey. the ink curling on his hands were going back to the two buttons on the gloves 'so that's why those two buttons are there...' he thought to himself as he tried looking at a mirror but they weren't near an bathroom or a safehouse. "come on... let's go" he said as he grabbed his axe and flinched when he held his hip. Corr follows Henry and Bendy as they go down the hallway, hopefully they might head back to the safehouse since he's had enough of what was going on for one day. halfway throughout the walk henry felt slow as he was holding his side "h-henry?" bendy said as henry smiled "i-im alright bendy just... gotta get used to this" he said as Corr frowns at Henry when he wasn't feeling so good. even the ink was doing this to him and even his own body as well. "are we close to the safehouse yet?" Corr looks to Bendy hoping that they were getting closer yet. bendy shook his head as he spoke up "i don't know.... we have gotten an few distances between this part of the studio and the saferoom we may have to backtra-" henry shushed the two as he motioned them to keep low as they heard the low hissings of an ink snake raptor "keep.... quiet" he said as he winces an bit Corr stays quiet as he stays close to Bendy. he hears the raptors noise was coming closer knowing he didnt wanna deal with any kind of enemies for today since they've got so much problems already. the three hid in between an box as they watched the raptor go by unlike the other snake raptors this one seemed far much bigger at leash around 3 meters, could this be the raptors's alpha? Corr hid seeing the huge raptor thinking it might be dangerous but hopes that Henry and Bendy will take it on or else that raptor will come after them. another raptor showed up as the alpha ordered it to stay put along with another one who was nearby as the alpha wandered off looking for something to hunt. henry cursed silently "we have to take care of those two.... you two stay here i'll try-" bendy grabbed henry's arm "no offense henry but you just turned into.... that! there's no where you have enough strength still" henry gave the demon an smile "watch me" the little demon made an sad expression "b-but Henry..." Corr frowns as he didn't want Henry to hurt himself even he was turned into a toon of another Bendy. plus he was still in pain from the ink that was still inside of him. henry smirked "corr, i'll be fine, besides if it helps you get to watch bendy scold me like an mother does" he said trying to lighten the mood up which only made the two toons an bit more sadden. ".. i'll be fine... just trust me" he said with an smile "...... alright henry... i.... i trust you" the demon said sighing "I dont......" Corr said with a cute and sadden word as Corr made a puppy dog eyes at Henry hoping he doesnt go out there if Corr can beg Henry to stay put with him and Bendy just to be safe. henry noticed and frowned slightly "it'll be fine corr... just trust me" he said as he silently leaped over the boxes watching carefully. the two raptors seem to be focused on vocalizing with eachother for the time being giving henry an little bit more time on how to do this without alerting more of them or worst alerting the alpha. henry pondered as he rubbed his chin. Corr lower his head as he watched Henry hoping he has an idea on how to avert the raptors away so that they can actually get home to their safehouse and even get to Norman. he looks over to the raptors wondering what they might be up to. the two raptors were mainly wondering what's been happening lately with the recent changes in hunting and patrolling patterns it seemed as if due to what happened with bendy when he was on a rampage in his unstable form seemed to have made the raptors more wary and frighten. Henry's arm turned into a axe as he carefully aimed his gun with the other hand he shot the two raptor's by the windpipe as he quickly ran and killed one of them. the remaining snake raptor tried calling out but due to it's windpipe being cut off it made this debarked wheezing sound. Corr covered his eyes seeing Henry killing off the raptor. but it seems so inhuman to see Henry doing this when he was in that form. guess he was not used to seeing Henry as a toon. The snake raptor made an hurtful snarl as it backed up. henry noticed as he quickly now used both his hands to keep an firm grip and shoot the raptor in the kneecaps. the inky lizard like beast snarling as it fell trying to get back up. henry's arm turned into a sword as he quickly plunged it forward stabbing it onto the raptor's head hearing an crack sound from hitting the raptor's skull. he pulled out the sword as it reverted back to his arm as he putted his gun away he motioned bendy and corr to come out but to keep quiet as the alpha was possibly still patrolling nearby. as Bendy and Corr got out, Corr looks at the raptor that Henry has done to it. even though it was a ink creature like raptor, it was still alive. but Corr felt awful just seeing it die right in front of him since he doesnt want to harm anyone or anything. he just hopes that they can all get outta here so nobody can...well...kill each other off. henry noticed and felt bad "corr, it was either them or us and i know there alive but.... they lost all sense of well humanity and besides there going by pure instinct like most carnivores do so really-" bendy shushed him as they heard the sounds of greving nearby. henry curious followed and stares with an shocked look. Two large ink like bodies looking like tyrannosaurus were on the ground with ink oozing out of every part of their body and in the center greiving the loss was an baby trex toon no taller than 7 feet. Corr lower his head when Henry was talking to him about he had no choice. but to Corr...there was a choice...his own choice...but then sadly turn his head to the sound of a sad noise until seeing what looks like a large toon trex resting by the bodies of the dead ones. Corr frowns sadly knowing the grief...it was lost and mourning. Henry slowly lowered his weapon feeling slightly sorry for the poor thing. bendy on the other hand walked towards it slowly. the toon rex quickly turning around whimpering "shh... shh it's okay girl... it's okay im not gonna hurt you" the demon said gently lifting up his hand to the trex as he placed henry's revolver on the ground as the toon rex did calm down an bit was still wary. upon closer inspection of the two dead large trex bodies it seemed as if they were sliced and slashed and stabbed. by what? the snake raptors they were meant to be the enemy of this toon rex in the show when it was still being aired. Corr looks at the trex's parents very sadly as Corr felt a bit grief inside of him now. he hates seeing things have to die. but leaving a child behind, made his heart sink. he can only imagine if that'll happen to his close ones...like Bendy, Henry, and Norman, and the others at the safehouse. he just wish he can just leave. Bendy stares at the trex and shushed her quietly as he petted her "you lost your parents girl?" the demon said as the trex toon whimpered and nodded "it's alright.. i know how it feels..." he said looking over at henry and corr as the now toon demon nodded at bendy. the demon turned towards the girl "your a pretty friendly one though aren't you? big, strong teeth, your a fighting one aren't ya girl?" he said as the trex nodded showing off her kinda sharp inky teeth rather cutely as the demon chuckled "wanna come with us girl? it can get pretty lonely out here" the demon said to which he was instantly glomped by the trex who licked and nuzzled him as the demon laughed "alright alright girl i know your happy!~" the demon laughed as he petted the trex "i think i'll call ya susan, ya like that name girl?" he said as the trex now named susan nodded as she wagged her tail before noticing henry and corr. she tilted her head as she came closer inspecting them. Corr looks up to Susan seeing how huge she was comparing to his own size. he was kinda nervous as he step back a little bit and even went behind Henry's leg. Corr was a bit paranoid from what just happened when they just encountered that strange creature that actually knows Corr, it really made him scared. susan noticed the slight cowering and made an confused caw as she crouches down to about corr's head as she nudged her head on the demon as she made an soft purring like sound, henry smiled and pattted the trex feeling how real the inky skin was compared to more as if she was an actual trex save for the pie-cut eyes Corr lightly whimpered but then hearing Susan purred made him a bit relaxed a bit. Corr looks at Susan as he weakly smiled as he slowly came out from behind Henry as he tries to rub and nuzzle Susan with his own head as he started to warm up to Susan. Corr really love to hear Susan purr since it....kinda reminds him of a cat...alot. Corr looks over to Bendy and Henry as he looks up to Susan worriedly. he goes to Susan's side hoping she can follow them back to their safe house. Bendy quickly ran out the room with the others following not noticing one of the ink snake raptors following with an hungry and angry look Corr tries to hurry up with their new friend as he looks behind him to see the scary raptor was coming after them. he tries to run faster to catch up, but it was kinda hard since he was so small. the four kept running and running henry looks back to see the raptor catching up. bendy shot an pipe as it steams out while henry caught up and did the same. the raptor getting blown by the two steaming pipe as it snarled and hissed and slowed down his pace but kept running towards them. henry's arm turned into an sword as he quickly slashed the alpha raptor's eye leaving an scar as he shot an ceiling light. the object falling down onto the raptor's head as it hissed and snarled and stumbled. henry quickly went back to the other three as they quickly made their way out and kept running. Corr tries to keep up, but then stumbles and trips over a pipe that was on the floor when they were running. Corr yelped when he was surprised by the sudden fall as it shocked him. Corr looks behind him seeing the raptors were coming very closer. henry, being quick used his sword like arm to pierce through one of the raptors's skulls as the alpha raptor caught wind and snarled ordering the remaining ones next to him to retreat. another raptor wasn't to lucky as henry made short work of it too as the remaining raptors along with the alpha retreated. the two dead bodies of the ink snake raptor's ink started to go into henry's 'ink' now slightly recovering him and his energy almost... but like bendy henry is also possibly using the ink to adapt to his new body. Corr rubs the side of his own body, his arm and leg knowing that he accidentally tripped on it from the fall by running. Corr looks over to Henry still made him uneasy from the form he was using, it wasnt the Henry he was used to be when he was human. he likes human Henry, but this toon Henry...it seems a bit over powering and kinda scared him. henry helped corr up but not before noticing the inky veins "shit.... looks like he's finished up with that creature faster than i thought...." an inky foot slammed down onto the floorboards as an wheezing like looped breathing laughter was heard as the ink demon turned towards to face them his grin growing wider and wider when his eyes were set onto susan who was feeling creeped out. the ink demon started to walk towards the group henry however thought he was going towards him and corr so he slashed the ink demon's chest and kicked the demon away "don't you DARE lay an finger on him" he said as his green pie-cut eyes glowed an orange like color as the ink demon snarled and held his chest the scar reopening as he growled darkly. Corr looked up almost in denial but also in fear. the ink demon snarled and pointed to susan henry quickly realized and growled his green pie-cut eyes glowing orange "N O!" bendy quickly grabbed corr and pulled him away as the ink demon's inky clawed hand also turned into a axe. the two clashed their weapon arms on eachother almost in a knight duel. the short fight went on for about 20 minutes until the ink demon had enough and grabbed henry and slammed him on the wall with his gloved hand almost strangling him with one hand as the now toon demon tried getting off of him but he screamed in pain when he felt the ink demon's inky claws digged into his face attempting to kill him. he quickly cut off the ink demon's arm with a clean slice as the ink demon roared in pain and got kicked down. henry grabbed the almost whole cut off arm and squeezed it wondering what would happen if he absorbed any of the ink demon's ink when he tried that he heard the ink demon roar out in pain as he felt his ink being taken away. henry grinned and kept squeezing it absorbing more ink as the ink demon roared out in pain and agony as it rolled around trying to resit the pain. when all the ink from the arm was gone henry quickly shot the ink demon in the face and rushed out grabbing bendy and corr by the arm as they run out with susan following. the ink demon snarled and chased after them while trying to regrow his arm back which of course slowed him down more allowing the group time to escape he snarled and roared out loudly in anger. henry panted as they hid in a room waiting for the ink demon to pass. corr however was an bit angry but did'int say anything for now. henry suddenly clenched his heart as he almost screamed in pain but he bit his 'lips' if he has any as he covered his mouth feeling his height grew an bit to about 6'6 as his fingers suddenly ripped from his gloves an bit turning into claws as he felt his bowtie changing to look like an mixture between alpha's bowtie and corr's bowtie. he felt fangs growing from his cartoon like mouth as he coughed as ink drip from his mouth. he looked at himself in the mirror with shocked eyes. the other two demons looked too with shocked expressions. the retired animator stared at himself in the mirror "..... what the....." he said as bendy whimpered "l...let's go now i think we all had enough for today" henry and corr nodded as the four head off. it took another half hour but they finally managed to make it back to the safe house with norman and boris coming and rushing over to henry in a worried manner as lacie watches only focusing on henry's current appearance as she hummed in thought.

[vesperlionheart]

The Barn 6

[part1][part2][part3][part4][Part5][Here]

Madara took the couch and Sakura woke before all of them, when it was dark and there was still fog from the sea spreading far and thin over the world for as far as she could see.

Sakura stood outside in her nightgown, unable to feel the cold or the damp touch of the morning air. She felt like she didn’t fit inside her body. Her body was one shape, her mind another, and her soul a third completely unique shape. Nothing fit. She was out of alignment and she needed to figure out a way to hide it or ignore it well enough to get on with her life before the fog burned away.

The sun wouldn’t wait for her. The world wouldn’t wait for her either. The demons stirring would have to be put on hold for another daybreak.

So, Sakura built that wall up high in her mind and layered it thick then thicker. She closed her eyes and stepped into the fog barefoot. When she came back her toes were nearly blue but the ghosts were a little further.

‘That’ll do,’ she thought to herself before letting herself back into the barn where the rest of her new friends continued to sleep.

Konan rolled over in bed and cracked open an eye as Sakura prepared a simple breakfast, but didn’t wake enough to roll out of bed. Not a sound could be heard from the loft, and Madara was an unmoving lump.

Sakura waved to Konan, even though the blue haired woman had buried her face back in the pillows and didn’t see the motion. Sakura typed in her code for the day and closed the door behind her.

Hours later Sakura clipped together another stack of graded scantrons and closed out of the grade book program on her computer. It glitches, started to stall, and then proceeded to flash the ‘program not responding’ sign. Sakura held her breath and prayed it didn’t do the dick thing and lose all her grades just as she went to save and close out of the program.

The program loaded, circling and circling until it flashed a new pop up and closed out peacefully. Sakura sighed in relief. She had over two hundred students, and while those grades were only for maybe 40 or so, it would have been a bitch to re-enter them.

“At least this is a problem I can solve,” she muttered out loud, rubbing the skin under her eyes. “Thank God for the mundane things in life.”

“Is that really something worth wasting your breath on?”

Sakura paused in her recline and turned slowly, eyes narrowed cautiously at the figure darkening her cubicle doorway.

“Sorry,” Sakura drawled. “No consultations without prior appointments. You should have called ahead.”

Kakuzu held up a white paper bag with a pink logo plenty cute with cartoon ghosts drawn as quotation marks around the name.

“What did you get me from Spooky Sweets?” Sakura asked, feeling her irritation abate once the smell reached her. It was fresh, whatever it was.

Kakuzu offered the paper bag up to her and Sakura unrolled the top to peer inside and grin at the assortment of Crepes. There was a variety there that clued Sakura into the fact that Kakuzu hadn’t known which she preferred and bought them all just to be sure. That was pretty big for someone as penny tight as him.

Sakura reached for one called The Monster Mash, a peanut butter, banana, chocolate, and whipped cream filled crepe that was still warm in her hands. She bit into the soft texture of it and melted a bit inside.

“Okay,” she said around the bite in her mouth. “You’ve earned my good graces. Pull up a chair. What do you want?”

“To see how you were doing,” he gruffly explained.

Kakuzu glanced around before pulling up his scarf and descending into the chair used by plenty of nervous students seeking advice on career paths and class help. He made the chair seem tiny.

Sakura licked the whipped cream that spilled out the sides off her lips, using the back of her thumb to wipe away whatever missed her mouth. “I’m dandy. You?”

“What of the others?”

Sakura shrugged, pushing the rest of the treat into her mouth to hum in contentment. She didn’t rush to clear her mouth and answer him, but waited with a water bottle in hand until she was ready to wash her treat down.

Kakuzu glanced away, into the hallway with a posture ready to wrestle. His shoulders were wide, perfect to brace against In a fight. He wasn’t as beautiful as Madara, but there was a broken sort of attractiveness to his hidden self. But maybe that was just Sakura’s strange fascination with creepy things clouding her judgment.

Whatever.

“The others are fine. Thanks for asking. Anything else you want to know before moving on?”

He faced her and even though most of his face was hidden, the glower was blindingly obvious. “Don’t belittle the situation. I am still the legal authority in charge of the property you’re residing on.”

“Are you, or is that a lie to cover for how auntie has her hands in your puppet strings? Let me be clear with you, Kakuzu. I don’t believe that it was your intention to trick me and that is why we’re having this conversation and I’m not burning your ass across the campus limits. Still, don’t think I’ll be stupid enough to blindly trust you like that again.”

Sakura leaned back in her seat, crossing one leg over the other, bouncing her ankle and making the sheen on her nude colored heels stand out all the more. They were pointed at the tips and promised to hurt if she decided to drive them into his leg.

Casually, she dragged the side of her thumb over her teeth, licking up the stray grains of rough sugar that still stuck to her skin.

Kakuzu hesitated before answering and he might have swallowed too, Sakura wasn’t sure under all those layers.

“I won’t lie and say that the matriarch Kushina doesn’t have some hold over me. I am still employed in her family’s service. But, I want to believe that may change soon.”

Sakura scoffed. “You thought you would get that from whoever showed any talent for the curse on that place, eh? I remember what Karin told me. You handed over Madara and the others because you thought you might get something out of it.”

‘He’d get to be your familiar in exchange for the others…’

“I did. It’s what I wanted.”

“You’re a crazy asshole if you think you’d use me for it.” Sakura grabbed the edge of her chair and leaned forward. “I’m not Mito.”

“I know that.” He was watching her oddly. “She couldn’t do what you did. She said she would, but there were always excuses for years without ceasing. It was only at the end that she admitted the truth about her limits.”

“Boo hoo.” Sakura clearly wasn’t amused by the tone of her voice. “Look how much I don’t care. I heard the stories too. She was a Matriarch, one of the best coven heads in years which means a total tool of a person. That’s not going to be me.”

“It could be.”

Sakura felt the temperature drop a fraction as her skin tingled with goosebumps. Her breath went stale in her throat.

“Not a chance.”

“Even if she hadn’t been at a disadvantage, you would have outlasted Karin with that stamina, and with training you would be able to best even the twins. You have the capacity for greatness.”

“Hell yeah I do. Doesn’t mean you have to have anything to do with it.”

“I’ve had decades under a master, and years training her offspring. I would be the one you’d benefit from best if you want to defend your new path in life.”

“There is no new path in life.” Sakura scowled at the thought. “I’m not changing anything.”

“Things are changing, like it or not. You will have to change.”

“Not the way you want me to. I’m not going to be one of them. I have a life, a real life, a life I sweat and bleed for. I’ll be in debt for this life for years to come. I refuse to let that all be for nothing. I worked too hard to get where I am right now.”

“If you wanted it badly enough, that debt could be erased.” He leaned forward. “You’d just have to want it badly enough.”

Sakura felt an angry roll in her gut. She knew the family had ties all over and enough money to drip in it, but it would always make Sakura uncomfortable to know that lifestyle was a few choices away. She could have tried to do what Tayuya did, and maybe Sakura would be where Karin is now. Maybe closer.

But at what cost?

“I’m not going to entertain such fantasies,” Sakura said, closing her eyes and turning her face away. “And I’m not going to take you as a familiar. I told the others I didn’t plan on taking them on either. I’m not changing my mind on that.”

“I’m sure they’d like that, but I’m the only one that could benefit you so perfectly. I have the skill set suited for you. The house would be yours.”

Sakura went still.

“What?”

“The Barn, it would be yours. I have that power. The will is mine to execute how I see fit. A case could be made that you’ve earned it via the spirit of the law in Mito’s will. It and all the lands around it would be yours without having to last the six months.”

With the debt hanging over her head it would be decades before she might be able to afford a place and call it her own. Hard work would get her far, but not far enough.

“You’re playing dirty.”

“I’m playing smart. I wouldn’t claim to be anything but the most useful familiar. I’d be better than any of the others. I wouldn’t even need another sacrifice. That price has already been paid.” Kakuzu scoot his chair closer to her. “I’d also be the least intrusive into your life. I already have a life here, a job, an apartment, and an identity independent from you. Little else would change.”

Sakura tilted her chin up and reached for the white paper bag left on her desk. She reached inside and pulled out a Yummy Mummy crepe, filled with white chocolate, whipped cream, strawberry, banana, and topped with Oreo bits. She bit into the treat and some of the tension eased out of her shoulders.

“You like that one?” Kakuzu asked after another minute of near silence, filled only with the sounds of her muffled chewing.

“I like all of them.” Sakura licked her lips and swallowed the last of it. “Everything on their menu is perfect.”

He nodded, filing that information away for later. “I had hoped you would like them. It seemed like the sort of place you would eat at, but I wasn’t sure what you would order off the menu.”

Sakura paused, mentally taking inventory of her physical appearance. Yes, she had bubblegum pink hair, but the rest of her was professional and scholarly. She had always been intentional in presenting herself as a serious figure, all dressed up and looking ready to blend in with the other ‘normal adults’ on campus. She was in a gray pencil skirt and a white scoop collar blouse. Not even her heels made her stand out.

“I think you might have misjudged me just because of my hair, but that’s fine. I got treats out of it.”

Kakuzu waved his hand at her desk. “Not here, but when you moved in, you brought your personality with you. That side of you seemed to appreciate the cute things in life.” He eyed the bag in her hands.

“Don’t act like you know me so well. You had no idea I even had any magic in me until two days ago,” Sakura said with an animated arch of her eyebrow that could make lesser students tremble. “I haven’t forgotten.”

“I’ve made it a point to learn,” he amended.

Sakura’s look was baleful. “I don’t believe you. Before last week I was invisible.”

She had made sure of it. She had never tried to be a part of the inner circles in the coven, but after the accident she had taken great pains to erase magic from her life the way her mother had wanted her to since the beginning. No one else in the household had magic, and some days it was too easy to forget there was magic in the world, but Sakura never truly forgot.

To the rest of the watching world, it probably looked like a reaction to trauma. No one was supposed to question it when she stopped trying to teach herself magic, and no one did.

His voice broke into her thoughts. “You were not as invisible as you may think you were.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Sakura snapped, suddenly feeling the sting of pins in her heart. Was it emotional pain or literal metals packing her hurt? Some days it was hard to tell. In that moment, Sakura didn’t know.

“Even if it’s a single drop, there is still Uzumaki blood in your veins, Ms. Haruno, and that makes you a matter of casual interest. True, we don’t spend every waking minute of the day tracking your movements or filing reports on your credit card activities, but should your behavior deviate from an accepted norm, the family was always there, poised and ready to react,” he said.

“And have they?” Sakura asked, holding onto the arms of her office chair like she depended on them.

Kakuzu glanced at the bag. “How do you think I knew one of the places where you liked to eat?”

If Sakura didn’t like the treats so much she would have thrown the bag and what was left inside at his face. She didn’t care if his expression was muted instead of smug, she felt like he was making fun of her.

“You can leave now,” she bit out. “We’re done here.”

Kakuzu looked panicked for a moment, but he stood. “I can help you.”

“You can leave.”

“Wait.”

He reached inside his coat and pulled something out of the inside breast pocket. It was a small white envelope with writings on the outside. He offered it to her but Sakura only glared. Neither hand moved to accept it.

Kakuzu ducked his head and set the envelope down on her desk. It clinked like there was metal inside it. By the shape through the paper, Sakura could tell there was a key in it. The writing looked like an address.

“It’s to my apartment, the one they don’t know about. You can come to see me if you change your mind...or if you don’t. You’d be safe there, I promise.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

Kakuzu didn’t move, but watched her steadily without his gaze wavering. “It’s safe. I’ll swear to it.”

“I want to believe I’m dangerous enough now to not care, but I know better. Safe or not safe, I’m not going to trust my aunt’s little guard dog. Go.”

She looked away and listened for his leaving. When she didn’t hear him exit Sakura closed her eyes and turned even further away and waited. She waited without noticing how much time passed, but when she turned, he was gone. She should have known better than to expect a sound.

Sakura finished up what work she could, taught her last class of the day, and prepared the materials for the next week of classes. The sun was low when she packed up and left.  

And the end of the hallway outside her offices she stopped and grinned.

“Hey, redhead, you’re in the wrong wing.”

Gaara turned and the relief was instantaneous across his face. He jogged over to her and reached for her hand, sighing onto her shoulder. Usually he was taller than her, but in heels, they were equal in height. He fit on her shoulder.

“You’re impossible to find. I couldn’t feel your chakra at all.”

“How long have you been on campus looking for me?” Sakura asked through a chuckle. Her fingers found his hair and scratched his scalp softly enough to not hurt. He melted further.

“Kakuzu came to the house. I left not long after that.”

Sakura’s fingers stilled. “How did you get here, honey?”

Gaara didn’t pull his head off her shoulder, but moved to look up at her. “I walked. The university is big, you can see it from far away and I got directions from your books.”

“Honey, that must have taken you hours,” Sakura said, reaching for his face to feel it. His cheeks were warm. “When did you last eat and drink?”

She moved him off her shoulder and he huffed in agitation while she turned back to jog to her desk. She had an empty tumblr under her desk and there was a water filter at the end of the hallway. She took her cup and filled it up, pushing it into Gaara’s hands and making him drink it.

When he was done with all of it he tried to give it back to her but she only filled it again and made him drink again.

“But I don’t want to.”

“Hush, it’s good for you.”

Gaara grumbled, but did as he was told, wiping the excess water off his lips once he was finally done.

“You know we can use chakra to help sustain bodily functions. A few hours without water or food won’t impact a shinobi so terribly.”

“I’ve heard of people doing that with their magic, but it’s not a good long term idea and no true substitute for water and food. I’m sorry you had to walk all the way here. Kakuzu was here over three hours ago.”

Sakura took the tumblr back and took it to the sink at the back of the workroom. She would clean it out when she came back in the morning.

“You’re very kind.”

Sakura staggered and balked. “Th-this is just basic knowledge. I’m not...it’s nothing special.”

Gaara hummed, shaking his head. “No, you’re kind. You’re caring like it’s so natural you don’t even know you’re doing it. It’s a nice change.”

“As opposed to what? I’m sure plenty of people would have given you water if you needed it. Konan said you were like a president or a leader of some sorts back home.”

“I’m not your leader though, and I never asked you for anything. You cared just because that’s who you are.” He reached for her arm again. “Will you buy me the sweet drinks with whipped cream again?”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “Ah, there it is, you were buttering me up, weren't you?”

Gaara made a face, recoiling at the comment. “You’re not a lamb chop. Why would you need butter?”

“Oh, Gaara, you’re too teasable. What am I going to do with you?” Sakura laughed, throwing her arm around his shoulders and leading him out of the building.

“You can buy me yummy star drinks.”

“You’re going to bankrupt me at this rate. Just, don’t tell the others. They’ll get jealous they didn’t get anything.”

“They didn’t walk all the way over here to find you or spend that much time lost on campus. They don’t have any right to complain.”

“How did you get out anyway?” Sakura asked. “I thought one of them might have stopped you.”

“Well, it’s not like I announced what I was doing. If I had, Madara would have tried to tag along and Konan would have stopped both of us.” Gaara chuckled to himself. “He was super pissed when he woke up and saw you were gone. He thought your life would revolve around him more, the selfish bastard.”

Sakura reached for her keys once she saw the edge of the parking lot. The weight of the metal was familiar in her fingers and for a split second she thought about the key Kakuzu had left on her desk, the one she had swiped into her draw to forget about, the one she ended up going back for, the one she eventually tucked away inside her wallet with the folded up envelope.

She looked up and scanned the surrounding area casually, noticing a few familiar faces and a few she had never seen before. That wasn’t unusual.

Everything looked normal but there was a new itch under her skin, one she couldn’t scratch, one she felt in the texture of her bones. Was someone watching her now and reporting her movements back to the coven?

Gaara’s hand on her arm made her blink and recognize where she way. She had stopped moving and Gaara was looking at her oddly now.

“Sorry, I spaced out there for a second.”

Was the kid in the red jacket watching them, or just looking off in their general direction?

“Is it something I said?” Gaara asked.

“No.” Sakura took his arm and led him to the passenger’s side of her car. “I just need to make an extra stop before heading home.”

His eyes seemed to light up. “Is it for my drink?”

The man in the red jacket was gone, but Sakura’s feeling of paranoia wasn’t.

“Don’t worry, we’ll stop for that too.”